


Blood and Chocolate

by KyokoUchiha



Series: Blood and Chocolate [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Bottom!Lance, Established shallura, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Human!Lance, Hurt/Comfort, Keith experiences love for the first time, Lance needs care, M/M, dark themes, description of violence and gore, human!Pidge, human!hunk, klance, no Klance violence though, shifter!Allura, shifter!Coran, shifter!Shiro, shifter!keith, shifters get possessive, shifters have violence and hunt kinks, smut in later chapter, top!Keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-17
Updated: 2018-03-10
Packaged: 2018-09-18 06:16:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 57,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9371879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KyokoUchiha/pseuds/KyokoUchiha
Summary: ** Keith remembers the time, when Shiro tried to explain to him, what it feels like to have a mate. He told him, that shifters are possessive and have the need to protect their mate. Back then he believed that he wouldn’t meet someone, who could have such power over him.But here sits Lance, a mere human. And Keith only has one thought in mind: He will be mine.*Lance’s cheeks tint into pink as he turns back around and finally meets the eyes of the handsome stranger in the armchair. When their gazes lock, Lance feels a shiver run down his spine, which has nothing to do with the cold air coming from the window. His knees tremble, weight of his body suddenly too heavy to bear, as he starts to go down. Before his ass kisses the ground, strong hands close around his arms to hold him steady.“You okay?”, the man asks, voice a low timbre, rough around the edge from sleep.And yes, Lance recongnises the fiery orbs–a mix of violet and red; the black, unruly mop of hair. Lance knows he’s doomed. **––Lance moves back to his hometown to open a chocolate shop. On the night of the full moon he meets Keith in the form of a black panther.-–Inspired by the movie of the same name.





	1. prologue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \- After watching the trailer for S2 I was hyped to write this, because I need Klance now more then ever <3  
> \- Although they are shifters, there will be no A/B/O dynamics. They are a pack but only the leader gets a specification (Alpha).  
> \- English isn’t my first language, so please forgive my plain writing style.

* 18 years ago *

“Keith, my boy, I want you to know, that your mother and I have loved you since you were born. If anybody says otherwise, don’t listen. We love you so much.”

“Were are you going, dad?”, Seven-year-old Keith asked, looking up with big, violet eyes at his father.

“I want you to live a happy and peaceful life. Therefor I have to fight at the side of our Alpha against the Galran Pack to ensure that peace for your future life. Please stay with Takashi and Allura. You will be safe with them. If I don’t come back, you will live with the Shirogane family. They will take good care of you”, his father told him, a hand on the small shoulder, squeezing softly.

“You won’t come back?”, Keith could feel the tears welling up in his eyes, but he tried really hard not to let them escape. He didn’t want to show weakness in front of his father.

Sung-won regarded his son, lips pulled into a grim smile. “I can’t promise you to come back, but I'm going to give everything I have. We will defeat the Galran Pack”, he placed his hand on the little head, ruffling the black locks. “Your mother and I will always be a part of you, even if we are no longer by your side. Don’t forget that. Promise me, that you will live a happy life.”

Keith sniffed. “I promise, dad.” He rubbed over his eyes. “You promise me, that you will kick their asses, okay?”

His father grinned. “I promise.”

* Present day *

The wind is warm against his skin, gently ruffling his hair, bringing the smell of pine and earth to his nose. Standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down at the town, Keith remembers his promise to his dad, he has given nearly 18 years ago. In a month he will turn 25 and will have to decide about his future life. If he wants to stay with his current pack or choose to live with a new one.

He gazes up to the moon, almost full–just two days left. He can feel his blood pulsate in anticipation for the hunt. At every full moon the pack will hold a hunt. But they don’t hunt simple animals–too mundane for such an extraordinary race as them. Their prey will always be humans: criminals who are already sentenced to death.

Clad in a shirt and jeans he lets the cold evening air cool his heated skin. As a shifter his body temperature is always higher compared to that of humans. He loves shifting into a big cat, loves to hunt. Feeling the rush of adrenaline, smelling the fear and sweat of his prey; sinking his claws into soft flesh, tearing skin apart and tasting fresh meat. He cannot describe how much _alive_ he feels every time.

His eyes roam over the outline of the city. His tongue licks over his lips, the memory of tasting raw meat–warm and fresh–lingers in his mouth. His lips pull back into a feral grin, exposing his extended canines. He just cannot wait for the next hunt.

 *

“That was the last box. I can still stay and help you unpack”, Hunk offers, after putting down the moving box on a vacant table. He glances over at the man, who is currently crouching down in front of the fridge, busily storing away ingredients. The tag on the box in front of him says ‘utensils’, which means that it doesn’t need to be stowed away into the fridge.

“Thanks bud, but that’s not necessary. I’m not opening up till next week. You can come Friday after work. We can do a sleepover and you can try some of my new creations. I’m thinking about nougat and honey and something with ginger”, Lance suggests, closing the fridge and standing up. He fishes out a little notebook of his back pocket; grabbing a pen, he starts to scribble down his ideas. “Nuts sound good too. Maybe some cranberries … you are not allergic to anything, are you?”

After all they haven’t seen much each other since his family has moved away when they have been 8 years old. His grandparents stayed and when he visited them, he would met up with Hunk. A few months ago he finished his apprenticeship as a chocolatier in Brussels and came back to America after his partents told him, that they wanted to sell his grandmas little café in his hometown. He told them that he wanted to open a little shop for his chocolate creations. After weeks of planning and persuading his parents about giving him a chance he could finally move in. When he told Hunk about his plans he immediately offered to help. Now they are standing in the shop’s kitchen, and Lance is exhilarated to finally be able to put his dream into reality.

“Luckily I’m not allergic to anything. I will humbly offer my assistance as a food taster”, Hunk says, making a half bow, big grin plastered on his face.

Lance’s eyes sparkle mischiviously as he glances up. “I gladly accept your offer. But you have to try _everything_ and tell me your honest opinion. No beating around the bush, ’kay?” He hates liars; especially if they are his friends.

Hunk nods. “Aye, sir.” His eyes move to the clock on the wall–it’s well past midnight. “If you really don’t need my help, I would go home.”

“Oh, sure, you can go. I will put the boxes upstairs tomorrow. I’m tired as well. Thanks bud for your help.”

“Anytime, man. You have to come by our repair shop soon. I noticed that your car doesn’t sound right.”

“Yeah, I didn’t have much time to get _Blue_ checked up the last months. Do you have time on Friday?”

“Sounds good. I will take good care of her”, Hunk assures as they walk to the front of the shop.

“You better will. She’s my precious lady”, Lance says, opening the front door. He shivers as the cold night breeze wafts by his body. It's spring but the nights still feel cold.

Hunk gives him a bro hug and steps out into the street. “I know. You’ve sent at least a hundred pictures of her to my phone”, Hunk laughs, remembering Lance’s call when he had bought the car–a Volkwagen Golf in blue, hence the name.

“You’re still sure, that she’s save outside?” Lance asks, eyeing the dark street worriedly. He had to leave her at a public parking lot. The need to go out and check every hour if she’s still alright is strong.

“Chill, nobody will put a hand on her. The people living here are very nice”, Hunk assures him with a smile.

The brunet sighs, leaning against the doorframe. “Okay. I need to buy some things tomorrow anyway. It’s just a few hours until morning.”

Hunk just smiles. “Text me about your day.”

“Oh I will. I will send you a picture of her first thing tomorrow morning”, Lance promises determinedly. “Have a good night.”

“Night.”

Lance watches his retreating form for a few moments, before he closes the door. After locking up he takes an empty box and goes upstairs to the apartment connected to the shop below. He still remembers his visits to his grandparents. Most of the furniture belongs to them; he hasn’t had much time to redecorate the apartment, the renovation of the shop swallowed most of his savings.

He puts down the box in the former study of his grandpa and goes to the bathroom to get ready for bed. He can feel the exhaustion in his bones but his mind is a busy mess of recipes, possible ingredients and how to combine them to create the perfect flavor.

Clad in his pajamas he goes to the window, which has a view of the little garden behind his shop. It lays idle. But he plans to grow some fruits and herbs for the upcoming summer. His eyes go up to the black night sky, enjoying how the light of the moon makes the night appear not entirely dark.

He remembers the days as a kid: going to school, spending time with Hunk at his grandparent’s and living with his siblings in this peaceful town. He feels a tug at his heart. He misses his family, misses his deceased grandpa and his diseased grandma whose presences he can feel in every room.

He closes the curtains and climbs into his new bed. He has always dreamt of coming back to his hometown and making people happy with eating his chocolate. And now it’s time to turn it into reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really wanted to post this before S2 airs but I fear that I won't make it T^T


	2. first meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the lovely comments, I'm so happy that you like the idea ^_^ <3

* Two days later *

The music is blaring in his headphones as Keith sprints through the forest, jumping over roots and unruly earth. The morning air is still humid, dampening his hair and skin. Early rays of sunlight can barely permeat the rows of tree trunks. It’s still early, most people in town are at home, but Keith loves to run through the forest. He needs to let the adrenaline out. Right before the full moon he feels agitated, restless.

But he has to wait for the hunt tonight. In just a few hours he will feel better, when he can let his animal side out. He can’t wait. But first he needs to go to work.

 

One hour later he enters the mansion, home of the Altean Pack, and immediately smells breakfast. He pulls the headphones off and goes straight to the door, which leads to the sunroom. There he spots the table with the delicious smelling meal. Grabbing a plate he puts eggs, bacon, sausages and toast on it. Then he sits down at a table in front of the glass windows with the view of the garden.

Halfway through his meal he hears other members entering. “Morning”, he says, after gulping down the stripes of bacon.

“Good morning, dear”, Allura–the Alpha of his Pack–greets, sitting down at the table, her plate similar stuffed with food like his. “Did you sleep well?”

The raven haired man nods, a smile tugging at his lips. “Can’t wait. How many did you get?”

“You know that’s a surprise”, Shiro says, taking a seat next to his mate, placing a kiss on her forehead. He looks a little exhausted; after all he spent the last days with relocating prisoners from all over the states to the town. He just arrived a few hours ago, barely enough sleep in his system, but he still wants to eat breakfast with his Pack.

“C’mon, at least tell me if there’s a mass murderer upon them”, Keith pleads. The more sinister the human is, the better is the taste of the flesh. He feels satisfied when he sinks his fangs into those foul humans, hearing their screams, begging him for mercy–like their victims did. The fear and remorsal in their blood makes the hunt worth it.

Shiro observes the glint in this violet eyes, he can guess what the younger is thinking about. He gulps down a few sausages before he gives an answer. “Okay, if you really want to know. Yes, we got someone like that. He has killed six people, possible more. Including his own girlfriend.”

Keith grins like the Cheshire cat. “Thanks, man.”

The older man raises an eyebrow. “Who said he’s your prey?”

The raven haired man puts his arms on the table, leaning a little forward. “Because I’m the better hunter, old man.”

Shiro snorts, but does far from back down. “We’ll see. Shall we make a bet?”, he challenges.

“Loser has to do the other’s laundry for the next month.”

“Deal.” After shaking hands both men return to finish their breakfast.

Allura just shakes her head at their antics, quietly sipping her coffee, warm smile on her lips. She hopes that Keith will choose to stay with her Pack. She can’t imagine a life without him at their side.

_‘He won’t leave’_ , the voice of her mate rings in her mind, presence warm and loving. She looks over at Shiro and shares a fond smile with him, fingers lacing with his on her thigh.

*

After awakening from a kind of disturbing dream, in which he has been lost in a forest, with glinting eyes in the darkness, he does his usually morning routines–he likes to pamper his skin–and goes to kitchen to make himself breakfast. He checks his phone for new messages from his family, his social media sites, and answers some questions on his blog.

The morning feels still clammy on his skin when he leaves the shop. He fastens up his jacket and starts to walk to his car. Wandering through the shopping street, he notices owners opening their little shops. He still remembers some from his days as a kid. He hopes they will visit him in his shop.

Reaching the public parking lot, he spots his car immediately. _Blue_ still shines in all her old glory, no scratch or harm done. With a grin he lovingly brushes a hand over the hood, already excited to drive through his hometown with her. He contemplates for a minute to visit Hunk at the repair shop but that will delay his plans for today. He needs to start making new chocolates. But maybe they can meet for lunch. Hunk’s parents own a Mexican restaurant. He quickly sends a message with that idea, including a selfie with _Blue_ in the background, before climbing in.

*

“Could you take my appointment tomorrow midday?”, Hunk asks, looking up from his check-up on a customer’s car.

Keith, currently standing under the service lift and examining the engine of another car, turns to face the other man. “Sure. I have room for another one.” He grabs a tool from the tool trolley. “Can I ask why?”

“My best friend just moved here and I promised to check over his car tomorrow. I noticed that his engine sounds a little funny”, Hunk explains, taking notes about his examination. “Thanks, man. I owe you one.” Finishing up his task, he goes to the computer and starts to fill up the form for the check-up. “I’m eating lunch at my parent’s restaurant. Do you want me to bring you something?”

“No, thanks. I’m not eating lunch today”, the raven declines, not further explaining. He can hear the typing stop for a second. But it resumes quickly. Despite living for a long time in this town, only a handful of people know about his true nature. Hunk is one of the few. He doesn’t expect a verbal response. Hunk tolerates their tradition, but he doesn’t like it one bit. As long as he keeps his mouth shut, he will be safe.

Keith checks the time: 11am. Seven hours until closing time; 13 till the hunt will start. Damn, he hates waiting.

*

The last time Lance has eaten at the restaurant of Hunk’s parents was a few months ago after the funeral of his grandpa. He spent a few days with Hunk’s family, which consists of his parents–Gabriela and Kahuna–and his younger sister Kala.

When they enter the Mexican restaurant of his parents, Gabriela is the first to greet them. “Lance, dear, come here”, she says, pulling the man into a bear hug, which resembles his mother’s. It looks hilarious with their height differences; Gabriela is at least to heads shorter but as big as her son in girth.

Lance grins down at her after she releases him. “Hola, Gabriela, you’re looking as beautiful as ever.”

She beams up at him. “And you are still so lanky. Are you eating enough?” Yep, even her character reminds him of his mother.

“Mum, he’s not a kid anymore”, Hunks states, rolling his eyes as he wanders to the kitchen. “You want a coke, buddy?”

“Hunk, out of my kitchen!”, Gabriella calls, following her son.

Snickering to himself at that normal display of family bickering, he takes his jacket off and goes to sit at a table. The restaurant is closed for lunch break so they can eat without disturbing other costumers. He thinks back to his last family gathering, which took place two weeks ago. His parents, 4 siblings, 2 in-laws and 2 nieces and 1 nephew all gathered together to celebrate the opening of his shop. He still gets teary-eyed at the memory of his nieces and nephew giving him their present for him: a big drawing of his entire family with wax crayons. It currently decorates his living room wall.

Hunk comes back with two cokes and one soda. Raising an eyebrow Lance opens his mouth to ask but is interrupted as the door opens and a familiar face steps into the restaurant. “Hey, guys, I’m not late, am I? Matt wanted me to check the database before lunch”, Pidge says with a laptop under the arm.

Lance’s face lights up. “Pidge, man, long time no see”, he calls, jumping up and pulling the smaller body into a hug.

“Good to see you too, Lance”, Pidge greets, smiling up at the older man. “The devil’s trio is finally united again.”

“Aw, I knew you’d miss me”, Lance cooes, arm curling around the other’s neck, pressing the younger against his side.

Back to their days as kids Lance, Hunk and Pidge were an inseparable trio in kindergarden. They often did some stupid things earning them scratches and lectures from their mothers.

After Lance’s family moved away they still stayed in contact–Hunk and him more than Pidge and him. Pidge now helps out in the IT department of the police station of the town, while taking online classes.

When they take a seat at the table Gabriela returns from the kitchen plates with steaming Mexican food in her hands. Lance’s eyes light up instantly. He loves the food of Hunk’s parents. “Thanks, Gabriela.” He takes a fish taco and bites down. “Oohhh”, he hums with his mouth full. “I really missed your meals.”

Gabriela smiles fondly down at the trio; watching them eat with happy smiles always warms her heart. “Anytime, dear. You are always welcome.”

Lance beams at her, heart swelling. She really reminds him of his mother. Rumarging through the backpack hanging on his chair, he fishes out a box. “That’s for you and Kahuna. Freshly made.”

The Mexican woman puts a hand on her chest. “Oh, dear, you shouldn’t have.” Regardless of her words she takes the box and takes a peak inside. Eight round chocolate balls, each different in their design are in inside. “Thanks.” She turns around and heads back to the kitchen. “Honey, Lance has made us some chocolates.”

Lance grins at her retreating form. Turning back he resumes eating his meal. “So Pidge, anything juicy you can’t talk about?”

Hunk groans over his meal, while Pidge’s grin almost reaches from one ear to the other. “Please let me eat first”, the big man begs. He hates to listen to Pidge’s police stories.

Lance laughs. “Alright. But as soon as you’ve put the last spoon into your mouth, he’s gonna tell me.”

“Oh I got some really insane story”, the youngest promises, eyes glinting ominously.

Before Hunk can respond the door opens again and a girl–with pink curls and mocha skin–clad in a cheerleader uniform, enters. “Food!”, she demands immediately. Upon spotting the trio she quickly comes over and attempts to grab for Hunk’s burrito in his hand over his shoulder.

“Hey! Food thief on the loose! Help, police!” Hunk shouts, trying to defend his meal.

Lance watches the two with a raised eyebrow. He kind of recongnizes that sort of interaction from his own family. “Kala?”, he asks.

Both stop their moving to look at the man. “Uh, yeah”, the girl says. Then realization hits her that they haven’t seen each other the last time he had visited. “Oh, right.” She ruffles her curls. “My hair’s pink now. You like it? It looks good with the uniform”, she says, taking a few steps back and twirling around. Her dark blue skirt swirls up.

Lance gives her a thumbs up. “Yeah, looks good. Bet the boys are at your feet.”

“Hey, that’s my baby sister you’re talking to”, Hunk interjects, mock glaring at his buddy.

Kala and Lance snicker. “You’re right Lance. I’m the head cheerleader”, she states proudly. “The boys are eating out of my hand.”

“Lalalala, I don’t wanna knoooow”, her brother sings, hands clamped over his ears. Big mistake.

Taking the chance Kala grabs the burrito on his plate. Everyone laughs except Hunk, who pouts. Biting into the tortilla she takes a seat next to him. “Did you bring chocolate?”, she asks.

“Careful little sis, I may start to think that you all only love me for my chocolate.”

“Is there anything else?”, Pidge pipes up.

Lance gasps, hand touching his chest in mock indignation. “Excuse me, I have plenty of good qualities. I’m a fantastic catch.”

Pidge snorts. “Says the man without a girlfriend.”

“Says the shrimp who _never_ even had a girlfriend”, Lance counters, crossing his arms. “First have sex, then you can talk with the adults.”

“Don’t let another do what you can do better”, the younger says, casually sipping from the soda. “Right, Kala?”

Lance raises a confused eyebrow. The pink haired girl finishes her burrito. “You should try on my uniform, Pidge. You would totally look hot.”

Now Lance is even more confused. “Why would Pidge wear a girl’s uniform?”

Kala raises both eyebrows. “Well, duh, because then she’d get the guys to look at her.”

“Wait. As in Pidge as a _girl_?”, Lance asks, baffled. A few seconds later it finally clicks. “Pidge is a GIRL?!”, he screetches.

Hunk lets out a groan, head falling onto the table while Pidge simultaneously pumps a fist into the air. “Yes, I win! Hand over the cash!”

“Kala, why did you do that?!”, Hunk whines.

Lance is absolutely baffled. For the first time he doesn’t know what to say; his mouth just hangs open slack, while he watches Hunk taking out a few bucks and giving them to Pidge. Pidge who’s a girl. His buddy Pidge with whom he had shared his love life with.

He buries his face in his hands. “God, you’re a girl”, he groans. He can hear _her_ snicker besides him. When he feels a weight against his arm, he peeks between his fingers at her.

She’s leaning against him, fond smile on her lips. “I’m still the same”, she tells him.

Taking a breath, he lowers his arms. “Sorry you had to listen to all that nasty rambling about girls”, he apologises.

She bumps her shoulder against his. “There’s nothing to apologise for.” This earns her a beaming smile from him.

 

An hour later both men exit the restaurant and saunter down the streets until they reach a point, where they have to part ways. Lance fumbles in his backpack and pulls out a small box. “These are a token of my gratitude for helping me yesterday.”

Hunk’s eyes start to gleam as he takes the box, immediately peeking inside. “Thanks. I promise that they won’t survive the day.” Both men laugh at that.

“No worries. I plan to make some tonight. You know, I can’t sleep well at a full moon’s night”, Lance tells him.

Hunk remembers that he often received text messages from him during the day–when it was night in Europe–usually containing his ideas for new creations, while he wandered through barely lit streets. Remembering something important, he grabs Lance’s shoulder, all trace of amusement gone from his features. “You absolutely cannot go out tonight! You have to stay at home!”

Lance raises his brows, not really understanding his sudden seriousness. “Uh … okay. Sure. But you know that I tend to take a walk to get myself slee–“

“No! Please, you can’t go out tonight!”, his fingers dig into Lance’s shoulder, “Promise me, that you stay at home. Just for tonight. Please.”

Lance can see the severity in his gaze. It’s not a joke. He pats the outstrechted arm. “Okay. I promise not go outside tonight.”

The other pulls his hand back, sheepishly rubbing his neck. “Sorry for yelling.”

“Pff, s’okay, bud”, Lance says, smile back on his lips. “But you have to tell me some time about that.”

Hunk nods half-heartedly. “Later.”

Lance would soon learn why exactly he’s told to not leave his home.

*

Keith looks up from his work on the engine when he hears Hunk entering the workshop. He sniffs the air, raising a curious eyebrow. Even though Hunk is alone, he can detect another unknown scent around him. He knows the different fragrances of Hunk’s family and friends–normally a part of Hunks’s own–but this scent is entirely new to his nose. He can’t really describe it’s oddity but he really wants to rub his nose all over Hunk’s clothes to get more of this heady scent.

Hunk must have noticed his starring, because he grabs the shop’s cap and puts it on his head. “Sorry, I’m probably smelling of food”, he apologises.

Keith shakes his head, rubbing a gloved hand over his nose, successfully covering the new scent with the smell of engine oil. “No big deal.” He resumes his work, trying to surpress all thoughts about that smell.

He can hear the man leaving the garage, taking the smell with him. For a few seconds Keith’s posture relaxes but when Hunk returns, he can smell it again. It seems to push every other scent out of the way. The steps get closer as does the smell increase in flavor. Hunk stops at the other side of the car. Looking up he notices a small box in the man's hands. Raising an eyebrow, he leans his upper body back up.

“My friend made some chocolate. I know that you don’t … eat today until midnight, but I think you should have a taste.” He opens the box, revealing six perfectly round balls of chocolate. “They’re delicious. I promise that you have not tasted something like this before.”

Keith gulps, hairs rising on his neck. The chocolate smells heavenly. Mixed with that new scent. Cocking his head to the side, he regards the man curiously. “Is it okay, if I eat one? Aren’t they just for you?”

Hunk smiles. “No worries. I can always get more. I’m his food taster”, he announces proudly.

Keith chuckles. He knows the man’s love for food, especially sweets. Pulling his hand free from the glove, he carefully grabs one ball. Due to his high body temperature he has to stuff the chocolate quickly into his mouth. As soon as the chocolate meets his tongue, different kind of flavours burst in his mouth. He has to stifle a moan; never before has he tasted something so uniquely delicious. After gulping down this sweet heaven, he notices Hunk’s eyes on him, lips pulled into a knowing smile. Adjusting the cap on his head, he puts the glove back on. “It’s good”, he replies, trying to appear casual.

The glint in Hunk’s eyes shows that he doesn’t buy that act of indifference for one second. “Yeah, good”, he replies. Putting the box away he returns to his workplace. “I’m gonna tell Lance, that you said ‘it’s good’”, he says.

_Lance_. Keith will remember that name and scent.

*

For the remainder of the day Lance busies himself with organizing his new kitchen. Luckily the ingridients he has ordered from Brussels already arrived earlier, meaning that he can start to make new sweetmeats.

Now at 10pm Lance stands in the kitchen with a pastry tube in hand and carefully injects the cream filling into the already hardened bittersweet chocolate balls, which he has made a few hours ago, gently humming along to the Spanish music playing lowly in the background. He loves to hear music during work.

After the last ball is filled, he puts the moulds into the fridge. At the same time he checks the nougat confect he has made after he returned from lunch. Grinning satisfied he wants to snap a picture for his former colleague in Brussels when he realizes that he can’t find his phone. Looking everywhere in the kitchen he goes up to his apartment but soon comes to the conclusion, that he can’t have misplaced it there. Thinking about the last time he has used it, he remembers that he wrote a message to his younger brother Thiago while he sat … in _Blue_.

Damn.

*

Finally the time for the hunt has come. The Altean Pack gathers at the beginning of the forest, which surrounds one half of the town. With only nine members their Pack is rather small compared to their former size. During the fight with the Galran Pack many died. Only Allura, Shiro, Coran–Allura’s uncle and mentor–, Shiro’s father and Keith himself could escape. Running away, expressing fear isn’t in Keith’s nature but he knows that he would have died if he hadn't run away. It still hurt to think about his father.

He looks over to Shiro and Allura who are chatting with Matt, a police officer and Shiro’s partner at work. Matt is another human who knows about their true kind. And he surprisingly helps to get the criminals for their hunts. Working with the police sure has its benefits.

“Bet you know, who the prey is”, a voice next to him says. It belongs to Cohen, a cheerful blond man, who’s a member of the Pack. He and his mate Samir, a raven haired man, who’s rather silent, joined the Pack two years ago after they were expelled from their old one. Some Packs still don’t support same-gender mates. Keith himself preffers men, so he can sympathise with them.

He grins. “I’m gonna get the jackpot.”

Cohen lifts his arms up. “Again this stupid bet with Shiro?” He runs his hands over his face. “Ugh, fine. We’ll stay out of your way.” He starts to go back to his mate but stops, looking over his shoulder. “By the way, Coran said, you shouldn’t get too far into your bloodlust. He won’t be back until morning to patch you up.” When he reaches Samir he takes his offered hand. “We’re going ahead.”

Keith just rolls his eyes and watches both men disappear into the forest. “Don’t miss the signal”, he calls after them. The pair prefers to have some alone time before the hunt starts. He once caught them making out … naked. Shaking his head to get rid of that image in his mind, he notices Allura approaching him. “Is everything ready?”

The Alpha of his Pack smiles at him. “I just got a text from Pixie. She’s already in the forest.”     

Pixie and her son Jessi joined them even before Samir and Cohen. Allura found Pixie during a trip through the States and after getting to know about her past, she offered her to join her Pack. Her son, who had been just three years old at that time, is now seven and a pupil of Allura at school.

“Okay. I suppose, Shiro’s the one to scare them today.”

“Correct. Next time it’s your turn.” She rests a hand on his shoulder. “Good luck. Have fun”, she says, blue eyes shining with anticipation.

Keith smiles. “You can wish the old man luck”, he says which earns him a glare from Shiro. Yeah, they have good hearing in their human form. He raises a hand in farewell and heads to the forest. After some time he finds a spot he likes and starts to undress.

Shifting isn’t some magical process, more like a transformation of flesh and bones. It’s not pleasant but after some time he got used to it. He puts the clothes under a tree, gets on all fours and starts the shifting. He can feel his flesh itching, his bones crunching. His body’s center of his gravity changes; his eyesight gets even better, his ears sharper, his sense of smell increases.

A few seconds later Keith, the human, is no more. In his place stands a black panther, fur as dark as the night and eyes like bloody rubies. He takes the time to stretch his muscles, to adjust to his new form.

It doesn’t take long for the signal to resound: a mighty roar which echoes through the night. The forest is quiet after that.

Seconds later Keith runs.

*

Lance remembers the dream he had this night. Being alone in a forest, surrounded by trees and darkness. Feeling vulnerable, frightened. Feeling watched. As though many eyes watched him under the screen of night. Heart pulsing frantic beats in his chest, ringing loud in his ears–making it impossible to get the fear under control. He awoke in the middle of the night, body drenched in cold sweat; heart beating furiously, he gasped for air.

And now he finds himself in a similar situation. Except now it’s reality. He just pinched himself for a third time to make sure. “Okay, stay calm”, he mumbles, slowly getting up. Checking the pockets of his jacket he finds his keys but nothing else. The upside is that those strangers didn’t rob him, on the downside he doesn’t have a fucking clue where he is.

He rubs the back of his neck, trying to soothe the throbbing pain. Hunk’s warning words play through his mind as he starts to walk into a random direction.

The light of the full moon can’t penetrate the thick foliage of the trees, making it difficult to not stumble over protruding roots. He’s such a fool for ignoring Hunk’s warning. If he comes back home, he will never ignore his buddy’s words again. “It’s ‘when’, Lance, not ‘if’”, he tells himself, sternly ignoring the uneasy feeling in his gut, which increases tenfold as he hears a sudden noise in the bushes behind him.

He nearly gives himself a whiplash with how fast he turns around. Squinting his eyes, he tries to make out anything in the darkness. He can see a figure moving behind the trees. “Um, hello?”, he asks, now really trying not to think about the dozens of horror movies he has seen, where people are killed in a situation similar to this. Stupid big sister Dana and her love for those movies.

“You are not one of them, are you?”, a sudden voice asks.

Lance nearly jumps out of his skin, not expecting to get an answer. The murderer never talks to his victims. “Um, not one of who?”, he asks, taking a step forward to get a better look at the other person.

“Of those monsters”, the stranger hisses and Lance can finally locate the man behind a treetrunk. “Didn’t you see him?”, he questions, voice trembling with fear.

Lance contemplates how to react. He doesn’t really understand, what the stranger is talking about. Monsters, really? _Maybe the guy has overdosed on whatever the hell he’s taking_ , he thinks. Stepping back, he raises his hands in surrender. “Monsters, yeah, sure. Definitely saw them. Man they were … really monstrous”, he cringes at the lame answer. “Um, it was nice talking to you but I have to go now … before those monsters catch me.” Not daring to turn his back on this man, he carefully walks backwards.

“Wait!”, the stranger calls, moving forward out of the darkness. Finally able to see him, Lance stops moving. The man is small, maybe two heads shorter and looks like he’s in his late twenties. He isn’t buff or anything, just a normal guy with maybe too long hair to look good.

Fiddling with the back of his neck again, Lance lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Let’s stick together. But don’t get too close to me.” After all, his mother has taught him to not trust strangers. And maybe even the tons of horror movies, he has watched with his sister, have taught him one or two things. “I’m Lance by the way.”

“Dustin”, the other man introduces himself.

*

Adrenaline pumps in his veins as he rushes through the forest; between trees, over roots, through bushes. He needs to find a trail, fast. He has to beat Shiro and win the bet. His stomach grumbles with the promise of food. Jumping onto a tree, he stills and sniffs the air. And bingo, up north he finds a whiff of his prey. Licking his lips, he jumps down and heads after it.

The prey is lucky, it found the lake. The goal. Pulling his lips back into a feral grin, he speeds up. Even if the prey gets to the lake, it won’t come out of this forest alive. Criminals don’t get second chances.

As the lake comes into view, Keith can make out another scent, mingled with the first one. Furrowing his brows in confusion, he pauses in his steps. He sniffs the air to check. No mistaking, he knows that scent. Looking over to the lake, he can make out two silhouettes standing at the lakeside. Leaving the cover of the trees, he slowly creeps forward, never leaving these two out of sight. He can decipher which smell belongs to whom.

“What do you mean, you don’t know how to get out of this stupid forest?”, he hears one male demand. It’s the one with the smell he recognizes.

“I told you, that I’m not from here! Those freaks brought me here! Didn’t they do the same with you?”, the other asks, smell spicy, on the brink of unpleasing. Humans with said scent usually are bad people, rotten inside.

The taller man throws his arms in the air in a display of irritation. “Monsters, freaks, maybe you should get your damn mind checked. I’m getting the fuck outta here.”

Before the man can move, the smaller one–Keith’s prey–grabs his arm. “I’m not crazy, I saw them! We all did! Don’t lie!”

“Hey, let me go, it hurts!”, the taller yells, trying to pry the hand off his arm.

Neither man notices Keith stalking closer. Five yards away a low growl escapes his chest. Both men turn at the sudden noise. If Keith might have the ability to laugh in this form, he certainly would after watching their faces turn from furious to terrified. Although the taller man looks more baffled than anything else. So he’s really been correct to notice his scent. This man isn’t a criminal, he’s Hunk’s friend. _Lance_. How the hell did he end up in the forest? Didn’t Hunk tell him to stay inside tonight?

“It’s one of them, those monsters!”, his prey shrieks. The man dives behind Lance, still clinging on his arm, trying to hide behind him.

“Hey!”, Lance calls, trying to get the other man off him. “The fuck you’re doing? I’m not your damn shield!” The grip on his arm is strong, making his attempt futile. He can’t get the other to let go.

Keith calmly watches the men, tail flicking from right to left. He still doesn’t know, what he shall do with Hunk’s friend. Killing him isn’t an option–he's neither a criminal nor does Keith have the urge to kill him. He likes his scent. It would be a waste to eat him. He would rather eat his chocolate. Licking over his lips he makes a step forward, earning a panicked shriek from the criminal.

“You said, you’d let me go, if I made it to the lake!” Keith takes another step and the criminal pushes Lance towards him. “Eat him! He’s bigger than me!” That earns him a shout of indignation from Lance. “Shut up!”, he pulls Lance’s arm behind his back. “I’m not going to die. Do you hear me! I will not die because of some freak, who can turn into a panther!”

Keith crouches down, muscles in his legs bracing for a leap. He waits for the right moment. It comes when Lance suddenly bends his upper body forward. Keith pounces. The moment his fore-paws touch the criminals chest, the man lets loose his hold on Lance, who dives out of the way.

The criminal lets out a pained cry as Keith’s full weight brings him down. “Noooo, let me go!” Desperately clawing at the black furred body, he calls out for help. “Please help me, Lance! Please! I don’t want to die!”

Having enough of all that nonsense, Keith opens his jaws and rips his throat out. The cries die down, replaced by gurgling sounds. Water and blood mix under his paws. Biting down into a leg, he pulls his prey out of the water. He doesn’t like his meal getting soaked with water. Back on dry land he rests his gaze on the remaining human.

Surprisingly Lance hasn’t taken the opportunity to flee like any sane human being would have done. He’s sitting on the ground, eyes fixed on Keith’s shape.

His nostrils flare, soaking up this heady fragrance, which is now mixed with fear. Licking over his lips he steps over the still bleeding corpse. With every step he takes, the beating of Lance’s pulse rate increases. He can smell the cold sweat, taste the fear on his tongue, but this time it doesn’t arouse his urge for blood. No, he definitely doesn’t want to kill or eat this man.

When his paw hits the ground between the man’s legs, he halts in his movement. His ruby eyes lock with Lance’s unbelievably deep blue ones, which really remind him of the ocean. And finally it makes click.

Keith remembers the time, when Shiro tried to explain to him, what it feels like to have a mate. He told him, that shifters are possessive and have the need to protect their mate. That destined mates will recognize each other upon their first meeting. Back then he believed that he wouldn’t meet someone, who could have such power over him.

But here sits Lance, a mere human. And Keith only has one thought in mind: _He will be mine._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, and sorry for the delay. 
> 
> !SEASON 2 SPOILERS!
> 
> Gosh, I’m not satisfied with season 2. I need more of Lance, my precious boy (ToT)  
> And wow, Galra!Keith is canon. Lets get purple ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿


	3. getting to know pt 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I’m really sorry for the long delay, shame on me m(_ _)m
> 
> Secondly, (this information is only important for the readers, which have read this story before April 17th!!):  
> I had to tweak the dates from the first chapters, because after researching in the lunar calendar, I had to push Keith’s birthday back to the next month. For better comprehension: This chapter starts with February 12th (Friday) and Keith’s birthday in this story is going to be March 11th (Thursday). I couldn’t find his official date of birth, so I’m sticking to mine. It works better with this story. ^^  
> Fun Fact: I had to go all the way up to the year 2055, because in this year the phases of the moon fit to my story ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

_“They are monsters, freaks! I saw him turn into a lion! A fucking lion! They’re going to eat us! I don’t want to get eaten!”_

_A heart-wrenching scream resounds through the night. The sound of flesh tearing makes his stomach churn. He can’t believe what he sees. His body is frozen in shock; he can do nothing but watch that beast devour its meal. The blood runs icy in his veins, cold sweat trickles down his back._

_A gasp escapes his mouth, which makes the beast turns its eyes on him. More bloody eyes are glinting in the darkness around them. His breath hitches as the beast starts to approach him. He can’t move, can’t run. He’s caught. He’s going to die._

_The heat emanating from the beast hovering above him warms his body. His eyes are locked with these gleaming orbs. Its breath brushes his face as it leans forward. At this proximity he can make out the blood around his jaws. Then the beast bears its fangs and Lance starts to scream._

 

With a jolt Lance awakes from his nightmare. Heart hammering in his chest, he sits upright, hands clutching the sheets around him. Trying to slow his heavy breathing, he realizes that he isn’t in the forest anymore. With a frown on his face he looks around.

He’s sitting in a bed, in an unknown bedroom. The morning light makes it easy to see. He sees some bookshelves with magazines and books, a table, a tv, a couch. A cold breeze wafts around him, making him shudder. When he looks to the window, he discovers that he isn’t alone like he originally assumed. In an armchair next to the open window he spots a sleeping man.

Rubbing the sleep off his eyes, he squints them to get a better look. He deliberately ignores the memory of his mother telling him to get glasses because of his oncoming shortsightedness. Black hair curling at the nape of his neck; pale skin glowing in the early morning light; lean body covered in a black shirt and red joggers; the feet bare. _Damn, he looks good from afar._

Now that his heart rate is back to normal, he finally feels the throbbing pain in his neck and at the side of his head. When his fingers brush over a spot above his ear, he winces. Fuck, that hurt. Nibbling on his lip he looks back to the stranger but the man still doesn’t stir.

Another breeze blows inside and Lance wonders how that man can sleep with the cold air. Cursing his kind nature he folds back the sheets and momentarily blinks at his own lack of clothing. He sports a similar shirt and pants. Brushing his fingers through his mop of bed head, he stands up. His hand grabs for the cupboard in front of him as he waits for his head to stop spinning. He doesn’t know if the sudden standing or the bump on his head is the cause of it.

Once his vision is clear again he starts to slowly approach the stranger. On his way over there he spots a quilt on a chest at the foot of the bed. And yeah, he’s going to put it on the stranger, really.

From up close the man is even more handsome. Lance can make out his smooth skin and even proportions and–god this guy’s really easy on the eyes.

Lance already had his bisexual crisis in high school, so he can easily admit, that he feels attraction towards this guy–in whose bedroom he is, whose clothes he wears, who has taken him back from the forest.

Lance is so dumb, really really dumb. Of course this man has to be one of those ‘freaks’, which have apparently the abbility to transform into animals. Thinking over that possibility only increases his forming headache. Rubbing a hand over his face, he tries to slow his increasing heartbeat. Maybe he can just leave …

“Greetings young man. I see you’re up already”, comes a new voice from the other side of the room and it has Lance utterly surprised. He lets out a shriek and throws his arms–and quilt–in the air.

When he turns around, he sees a man at the door. He looks like he’s in his mid-fifties, with orange-red hair and a moustache. His smile is friendly and he looks a little guilty for scaring him. “Um, good morning?”, Lance begins but gives another shriek when the quilt lands on him. Damn, men don’t shriek.

The older man at the door chuckles, twirling his mustache between two fingers. “I’m glad you’re this chipper.” Then his gaze shifts sideways.

Lance’s cheeks tint into pink as he turns back around, quilt still halfway draped over his body, and finally meets the eyes of the handsome stranger in the armchair. When their gazes lock, Lance feels a shiver run down his spine, which has nothing to do with the cold air coming from the window. His knees tremble, weight of his body suddenly too heavy to bear, as he starts to go down. Before his ass kisses the ground, strong hands close around his arms to hold him steady.

With both of them standing he realises that the raven haired man is a little shorter–roughly three inches–but his hold is strong, biceps muscles prominent in the shirt he wears.

“You okay?”, the man asks, voice a low timbre, rough around the edge from sleep.

And yes, Lance recongnises the fiery orbs–a mix of violet and red; the black, unruly mop of hair. Lance knows he’s doomed. 

*

Keith’s muscles still tingle from the hunt, body still full of adrenaline; all he wants to do is to go back to the forest, shift into his animal form and run. But he can’t. He has to go to work and there’s still the issue with Lance.

Combing through his hair, he shifts his weight on his other leg as he observes the other man on the bed– _his_ bed; wearing _his_ clothes. Coran told him to sit back down so that he can examine his injuries. His hands are currently on the man’s head as he examines the bruise and Keith flexes his hands in front of his chest. The urge to shove the older man away from Lance surprises him but he tells himself that Coran’s a doctor and just wants to check on Lance, his patient.

“How strong is the headache? Are you having trouble with your equilibrioception?”, Coran asks, as he rummages through his doctor’s kit to pull out a little flashlight. He checks the reaction of his pupils.

Lance waits with answering until he’s finished. “It’s just a dull throbbing in my temple. But my neck kinda hurts. Those guys probably did that”, he murmurs the last sentence, but Keith catches it nonetheless.

Immediatelly he’s pushed himself from the wall and walks over. “Did that man hurt you?”, he presses.

Lance’s azure eyes land on him, his brows furrow as he looks down into his lap. “No. Dustin didn’t hur-”, he remembers the man’s bruising grip on his arm and his hand unconsiously starts to rub over the abused skin–there’re no marks but he can still imagine the pain. “Before I woke up in the forest, I was on the way to get my phone from my car, but a woman suddenly came up to me.” He blushes as he remembers the pretty woman with blond hair and purple eyes, who had approached him; voice playful, eyes sparkling mischiviously. And yes, Lance just had to flirt with her–he really likes pretty girls–and to his surprise she had flirted back. “We talked and I heard footsteps behind me and the next time I opened my eyes, I was in the forest”, he finishes his explanation. “They didn’t steal anything … my neck just hurts.”

Coran furrows his brows. “Are you sure that they didn’t do anything else?”

Lance blinks at him. When he realises the implication, he blushes. “Yeah, I’m sure it’s only my neck. And head.”

The doctor tucks on the collars of the shirt to get a look on said skin. “Hmm, I guess you were knocked out with a blow. I can give you a balm for the ache. And some painkillers. We can get you to the hospital to make a brain scan if you want. To make sure”, Coran explains as he puts everything back into his bag.

The brunet rubs over his eyes. “No, thanks. I’ll just get the medicine. I need to go back to my shop. Still got a lot to do.”

“I fear that this has to wait. All you should do today is rest. Your body needs rest and your mind too”, Coran says sternly.

Lance scrunches up his face but doesn’t talk back. Then he finally spares Keith a glance. “Do I get an explanation?”, he asks, not really sounding like he expects an answer.

Before Keith can indeed give him an answer, Allura and Shiro–with a serving cart full of food in front of him–enter the room. “You will get an explanation. After breakfast.”

*

After Lance has taken some pills and everyone has some food in their stomachs, Allura starts. “First of all, I’m really sorry for what happened. I apologize in the name of my Pack for this misunderstanding. I hope, that you did not get hurt?” Her blue eyes dart to Coran, who shakes his head, before she glances back at Lance.

“Apart from the pain in my head and neck, I’m fine, I guess. As fine as I can be concerning what happened.”

“But Keith did not hurt you, did he?”, she presses.

Lance feels that violet gaze on him; his skin prickles as he struggles to keep his eyes on the woman with the white hair. “No, he didn’t. Just scared the hell outta me”, he states, lips quirking into a wry half smile. Scared may be an understatement, he was terrified, but he keeps that thought to himself. He’s surrounded by people, which have somehow the ability to turn into animals, so he won’t admit to them that he’d bolt right now if he could. He doesn’t know if they can smell his lie but as long as they don’t address it, he’ll play cool. “Soo…”, he starts, because his curiosity is killing him. “All of you can turn into animals? Is that true?”

Allura nods. “That’s correct. The black panther you met was Keith. He’s also the one who brought you back to our house. We live in this mansion at the end of town near the forest. Once a month, on the night of the full moon, all of us shift into our beast form and hunt. The townspeople usually stay out of this forest, because it belongs to us. Coran mentioned that you were attacked and left in the forest, but I can’t understand why someone would do that. The woman you mentioned can’t possibly be from here. I know most of the people living here.” She explains with her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

“I couldn’t detect another scent on him”, Keith voices and every pair of eyes land on him, including Lance’s, who’s puzzled. “His scent was heavy mingled with perfume, which I guess belonged to the woman.”

Lance is tempted to raise his arm and get a whiff but keeps still to not embarrass himself. Instead he takes a peek at the clock on the nightstand and nearly lets out a curse because it’s already past ten. He’s gonna be late for his appointment with Hunk in the repair shop. He doesn’t dare to voice this issue because he was told to rest and taking _Blue_ to the shop and walking back on foot is anything but taking a break.

“I suggest someone should go to his car and check there for any lingering smell”, Coran tosses in.

Allura’s eyes meet Shiro’s who gives a nod and stands up. Lance’s eyes follow his movements. “Shiro will drive you back home”, she explains as she catches his confused look.

“Okay”, the brunet agrees. Before he gets out of bed, he catches violet eyes on him. The raven doesn’t look pleased but Lance refrains from addressing him because right now he doesn’t want to be alone with this man.

 

The drive home in Shiro’s car is spend in silence, which Lance appreciates for once, because he’s got a lot to take in and talking more about this shifting-hunting issue will probably give him another headache.

As soon as they arrive at the parking lot, Lance can’t get out fast enough. He nearly jumps out of the car and rushes to _Blue_. His car is still parked in his spot, looking unharmed. Unlocking the door he breathes out a sigh of relief and grabs his phone.

“I take it, they didn’t steal anything?” Shiro’s voice is right behind him. Turning around he gives him a sheepish smile, because damn he has forgotten him for a moment.

“Yeah, Blue’s still here and so is my phone. Guess they didn’t plan to steal anything in the first place.”

That statement makes Shiro furrow his brows in confusion. “I can’t make out a suspicious smell. I need to check your home, just to make sure they didn’t do anything in there.”

Lance visibly deflates at the words. He’s already ten minutes late for his appointment and with Shiro checking his house he’ll be running even more late. Damn. He begrudgingly motions for Shiro to follow him, while he texts Hunk that he’ll be late.

*

“Do you want to eat anything from the restaurant today?”, Hunk’s voice rings through the hangar. Keith is currently lying on a creeper under the car body. With all the commotion concerning Lance, he came in late today, forgetting to pack his lunch. Therefore Hunk’s offer saves his day.

“That would be great. I didn’t pack lunch”, he shouts, hoping the big man will hear him.

“Cool. Just tell me later what you’d like to eat. You need anything from the storehouse?”

“Yeah, some bolts for the oil pan. Looks like these here won’t make it any longer.”

“Coming right up.” Hunk’s steps fade away.

He rubs his itching cheek with a gloved hand, not caring that he rubs oil on his skin. Then he notices the rumble of a closer coming car, stopping right at the entrance of the hangar.

When the engine dies down and a door is opened, Keith nearly hits his face against the oil pan as a very familiar voice speaks up. “Sorry, bud, I overslept and forgot my phone in Blue. Can you still look her up?” What the fuck is _Lance_ doing here?!

Grabbing for support at the underside he pushes himself back to roll out from under the car. He’s sure the look on his face is calling murder because as soon as Lance sees him, he visibly leaps a step back, with his blue eyes round in panic at being caught. “Are you fucking kidding me!”, he shouts as he jumps up from the creeper. “Did they stab you in your ears? Coran told you to rest!” Fuck, he doesn’t mean to yell but the rage about Lance ignoring a doctor’s order is making his blood boil. The man denied a scan at the hospital but still walks around, like it’s not possible that he could fall over at some random time, injuring his head even more. Keith can see the bump forming at the side of Lance’s head. By tonight it will be as big as a large egg.

Lance winces at the voice, the volume probably causing another headache. He’s such a fucking idiot. Before the brunet can voice a comeback, Hunk’s voice cuts in. “Morning, bro. I thought you wouldn’t come. Did you oversleep?” His voice is friendly, happy but changes tone as he comes closer. “Woah, is that a bump on your temple? Did you fall off your bed?” Now it’s concern. He squints his eyes as he examines the bump.

Lance’s hand flies to his temple for cover and fails to mask his wince with an indifferent shrug of his shoulders. “I guess I’m still not used to the bed. Must have hit my head on the headboard during sleep. You know, I move during sleep.” His lips are pulled into a grin, but Keith can see the worry shine in his eyes. He’s not a good liar.

“Stop lying, idiot”, Keith interjects, getting the attention of the two men.

Hunk raises an eyebrow in confusion, eyes travelling from one to the other. “You know each other?”

Lance opens his mouth to probably tell another lie, but Keith is faster. “I found him yesterday in the woods. Someone brought him there. He spent the morning at the mansion.” His violet eyes lock with shocked brown ones. “He _knows_.”

 

After that reveal all hell broke loose. It ended with Hunk accelerating his lunch break to take Lance back home and make sure that the man stays there. Keith really hopes that Hunk can talk some sense into that thickheaded idiot.

 

Later at night Keith finds himself in front of the soon-to-be chocolate shop. He asked Shiro for the address. A small part of him–the more human side–feels like a creep but he just can’t forget Lance’s story about how he ended up in the forest. A mysterious woman and possible man, who attack him and dump him in the forest exactly the night of their hunt. A little too suspicious to be pure coincidence. _This is the only reason why I‘m here_ , he tells himself.

His eyes roam over the front of the house. Big window with new letters at the top, next to the front door: ‘Chocolate Blues’. On the door sticks a flyer with the date of the opening. Next Monday. Everything is dark inside except for a tiny blaze in the back of the shop behind the counter. Possibly the kitchen.

Keith furrows his brows. Coran told Lance to rest for the remainder of the day, but he had obviously irgnored his instructions. Huffing to himself, he spots a windowshill on the first floor. After checking the street for any bystanders, he gets in position for a jump. The air whooshes around him as he jumps up, hands catching the stone. From there he climbs up until he’s standing on the roof of the building. He takes a minute to appreciate the view of the town during the night, before he goes to the other side to take a peek over the edge. Luckily it’s just a two-story building, so a jump won’t break his bones.

With his enhanced eyesight he can make out a small terrace and garden. The light of the lamps inside is easier to spot now. So the man is really up. Making up his mind, he climbs down from the edge of the roof down to the next windowshill. From there he lets himself fall down to the floor and rolls over his shoulder to soften the impact. Then he stands up, dusts off his jacket and moves to the back door to get a look inside.

Lance stands at the counter, busily dipping balls into some bowl with chocolate. Keith can see the tired lines in his face, even from the side.

Balling his hands into fists, he takes deep breaths to calm his rising temper. Why does he get so worked up over this man? He barely knows him but the urge to make sure that Lance is okay, is so strong that he worries he will drive him away with his constantly interference.

A clank yanks him out of his thoughts. The bowl has fallen to the floor and Lance is kneeling down to wipe up the mess. The raven doesn’t miss the swaying in the man’s posture. That’s enough.

He waits a little longer until Lance won’t get a heart attack, when he knocks on the window. Although Lance has long finished cleaning the ground from the spilled chocolate, he still seems to be thinking about something else, because he’s still surprised at the sudden knock. He spuns around, egg whisk raised as if it’s a weapon, eyes only going wider when he realizes it’s Keith.

His expression switches from terrified to surprised and stays with annoyance. He moves over to the door and opens it. Why isn’t Keith surprised that it isn’t locked. “What are you doing here? _How_ did you get into my garden?”, the brunet demands to know the moment there’s no longer glass between them.

Keith watches him for a moment. Takes in the tired lines around his eyes, sees the bump on the side of his head. Folding his arms in front of his chest, he returns the glare with an even look. “I’m just here to make sure that you do as Coran has told you. And here you are, blatantly ignoring his orders. Still.”

His calm behavior just seems to rile Lance up even more. The slightly taller man grits his teeth, hands balling into fists at his sides, and Keith contemplates just for a moment, if maybe he has overstepped his boundaries, but then the tension leaves the other’s body as he takes a deep breath. His hand wanders to his eyes, rubbing over them. “Ah, forget it”, he turns around, “close the door behind you. It’s cold”, he says and goes back to working on the chocolate balls on the counter.

The raven man is a tad surprised but doesn’t let the invitation slide. He closes the door behind himself, making sure to lock it.

As the ‘click’ noise resounds through the room, the brunet gives him a wary look. “So you _do_ know what a lock is?”, Keith states.

The other furrows his brows. “Yeah.”

Keith comes closer until he stands at the other side of the counter. “Some strangers left you in the forest and you just leave the door open. Do you want them to get you again?” This time his voice is not even, it’s full of frustration. He wants to grab him at his shoulders and shake some sense into this idiot.

Lance huffs. “The front door is locked. Nobody cares about the back door. How would they even manage to get–”

“I did.”

“Yeah, but you probably used some spidey-moves to get here. Normal people can’t do that”, Lance argues back, but regrets his words moments later.

Keith just shrugs, already seeing the apology forming in the other’s eyes. “You’re right. I really pulled some ‘spidey-moves’ to get here”, one side of his lips pulls up into a half smile.

The brunet averts his gaze again; nonetheless Keith catches the hint of a blush on his tanned skin. A warm tingle starts to spread in his chest. “You want some hot choloate?” Lance switches the topic of conversation.

Keith sighs at that. “So you really plan to stay up?” Then he thinks that tomorrow is Saturday–no work–and makes up his mind. “Sure, if it’s as good as the chocolate you gave Hunk.” He shrugs off his leather jacket and pulls his gloves off. Then he eyes the counter. “So, how can I help?”

That earns him a surprised stare from the brunet. “You serious?”

Keith smirks and wiggles his fingers in front of him. “Afraid I’m not cut out for it? I’m a mechanic, I have tact.”

Lance just rolls his eyes but motions to his hair. “Okay, but first, keep your mullet in line. I don’t want any of your goddamn hair in my chocolate.”

The raven just silently glares at him, but obliges.

* Sunday morning *

“Damn, it’s cold outside“, Hunk exclaims as he enters the chocolate shop. The cold morning air wafts around him as he steps inside, making room for Pidge.

“That’s exactly the reason why I take online courses. So that I _don’t_ have to go outside.” The small girl starts to take off her green beanie and matching gloves all the while grumbling about stupid spring and Lance for calling them here this early.

“Lance?”, Hunk calls after a moment.

“Kitchen”, comes the voice of the other man.

Both newcomers head for the back. When they enter the kitchen, they see Lance busily working on little chocolate cakes. He’s surrounded by different utensils, chocolates, goodies and other things. It’s really messy, like he hasn’t cleaned since yesterday.

Hunk furrows his brows, examining the face of his best friend. “I bet, you didn’t sleep, right?”

Lance finishes the last small cake and looks up. “Oh, is it morning already?”, he asks, sheepishly scratching his cheek. This earns him a “duh” look from both. “Ah, sorry, I had to finish them”, he gestures at the creations. Then he notices Pidge’s rosy nose and cheeks. “Do you want some hot chocolate? It’s really good. I got it from Brussels.” The sparkle in both pairs of eyes is all the answers he needs. He gestures to the seats at the wall as he gets everything ready.

Hunk puts their stuff away, while Pidge takes a seat, eyeing the sweets. “Are you sure, you can manage the opening tomorrow?”

Lance leans his hip against the oven. “I guess I can, if I work all day today”, his fingers start rubbing over his eyes. Then he grabs the moka pot to make some coffee for himself.

“You need to rest, bro. It’s not good for your health”, Hunk chides, coming down from upstairs, mugs for them in hand. When he places them on the counter next to the oven, he hears a faint growling noise. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glares accusingly down at the other man. “You didn’t eat”, he states.

Lance averts his eyes, guiltily mumbling something about ‘being in the flow’.

“Lance! How often do I have to tell you to eat?”

The brunet wants to respond but a louder rumble disrupts. Instead he gulps down his answer and goes back to making their beverages. “’M gonna eat soon.”

“When exactly is ‘soon’?”, Hunk presses.

Lance rubs his eyes tiredly. “I still have to fill the white balls. They need to freeze for a few hours until I can seal them again.” He takes a look at the clock. “And then I have to decorate them after freezing again.” He can clearly see the vein pulsing on his best friend’s temple.

“And when do you plan to sleep?”

“Heh, good question …”, Lance starts, gaze on the hot chocolate in the pot. He really did plan to take a nap, but he can’t sleep when he still has so much on his schedule. When the chocolate and coffee are ready, he fills them in their respective mugs.

“Thanks”, Pidge chirps as her fingers close around her mug. But when Lance stands in front of the bigger man his smile disappears. He wiggles the mug in front of his face. Hunk still doesn’t look satisfied, but Lance knows that he can’t resist his chocolate. So when his buddy finally takes the offered mug, he refrains from grinning smugly.

He’s not ready when Hunks suddenly grabs his wrist and starts to drag him to the stairs. “You’re going to eat what I make you. Now!”, the man declares, voice determined.

Lance knows that it’s not the time to object anymore, so he nods and lets himself get dragged upstairs. Looking over his shoulder, he eyes Pidge. “But Pidge has to come with us. I’m not leaving my chocolate alone with her.”

“Hey!”, comes the retort from the girl in the kitchen. Seconds later she follows them with a pout on her face.

 

Half an hour later Lance has finished his breakfast and coffee, now trying to make himself stay awake with fiddling with the mug.

Pidge is sitting on the windowshill of a nearby window, while Hunk takes care of the dishes. “So, I heard about your little late night adventure”, she suddenly breaks the silence. The dishes clatter in the sink as Hunk turns and gives the girl a pointed look. She shrugs. “What, the cat’s out of the bag … no pun intended.”

When they hear a snort coming from the brunet, they turn their eyes on him. Lance is hiding his face behind his mug, but his shaking shoulders betray him.

Hunk rolls his eyes exasperatedly. “You must be really tired to find that funny”, he states.

The other man wipes the tears from his eyes. “Sorry … it’s just so unbelieveable.” He thinks back to the night in the forest, the panther; the morning after, the man sleeping in the armchair. One and the same. A shiver runs down his spine as he remembers the violet gaze on him, eyes glinting with hunger. But Keith doesn’t want to eat him, does he? “Aren’t you afraid that Keith wants to eat you?”, he voices his thought.

Hunk’s shoulders stiffen for a moment. “He wouldn’t. His Pack only hunts criminals”, he explains, voice steady.

Lance furrows his brows. “Then the man in the forest was a–“

“A psychopath”, Pidge interjects. “You were lucky that the guy didn’t kill you on the spot. Keith saved you.” The brunet rubs his face as he ponders over her words. “Matt’s not afraid that Shiro’s gonna go lion on him. He trusts him”, Pidge explains. “And you trust Keith, right Hunk?”

The big man turns to look from Pidge to Lance; notices the latter’s tired, beaten expression and finally gives in. “Yeah, Keith’s a good guy. Really good. They all are. I don’t like them killing people at all but if it’s just bad people then … I can live with it.”

“So, you’ve never seen him turn?”, Lance asks.

Hunk shakes his head. “Matt has seen Shiro”, Pidge cuts in. “And it’s called shifting. He told me that it looks really odd. There’s no magic or anything sparkly. Their bodies just shift into animals. Big cats in their cases. Shiro’s a white lion. Really cool. Allura is a snow leopard, Coran a jaguar and Keith–"

“A black panther”, Lance finishes, mental image fresh in mind. He knows exactly how the man with the damned mullet looks as a beast.” When the other two stay quiet, he looks up from frowning at his mug. He sees the worried lines in their faces. His lips form a half smile, which probably doesn’t reach his eyes. “’S okay. It’s just a lot to take in. And with the shop opening I haven’t got much time to think about them.” _About Keith._

“Nobody blames you. We understand your situation. Pidge and I needed time to accept it too”, he pauses briefly, “You don’t have to accept it. If you don’t feel well with them–“

Lance snorts. “What, then I can move away? Yeah, sure. Just give me some time. They don’t seem like bad people”, he thinks back to last Friday morning when he met Allura and some of her Pack. How they treated him: friendly, careful, understanding. They apologized. “And now that I know, they only eat bad people–“

“Really bad guys. Man, I’ve seen some data from the police database. It gives you the creeps. Imagining that such people live among us”, Pidge shudders visibly. “I’m really glad they get rid of them. They don’t deserve an easy death.” Jumping down from the windowshill the girl makes her way over to the table to get a leftover pancake to nibble on it.

_So Pidge really is on their side_ , Lance concludes. His gaze shifts to his best friend, who has listened silently. “And what about you?”

The other man puts the last dish away before he sits down at the table. His arms rest on top of the table, fingers interlaced, brows drawn together. Lance patently waits. When Hunk finally speaks his voice is steady, sincere. “I understand that they have to do it, I can live with it. But I don’t like it nor do I want anything to do with it. But I can sleep better with knowing that they hunt bad guys.” His brown eyes meet Lance’s blue ones. “But I don’t want to push my opinion on you. If you want to be friends with them, I’m good. If you want to avoid them, I’m good. They aren’t bad people. Keith is a really decent guy, but I don’t have any business with him after work. But like I said, I’m okay with it when you want to befriend him.”

Lance cheeks flush and he has to look away from the knowing eyes of his buddy. Hunk knows him too well. Rubbing over his face, he glances at his friends. “You two wanna help me with the chocolate?”

Pidge immediately grins wide, eyes shining mischievously. “Thought you’d never ask.” Hunk nods in agreement.

When the three of them walk down into the kitchen, Lance is glad to have them at his side.

 

_Piercing red eyes surround him, trapping him in place. It’s dark, moon barely penetrating the thick foliage of the trees around him. Lance can’t feel his body; the fear is running icily in his blood, making it impossible to move. His blue eyes are wide open in panic, pulse pounding in his ears, chest heaving with every hurried breath he takes._

_The eyes don’t come closer, just gaze through the darkness at him. And Lance knows he should be grateful but he just wants to get back home. To Hunk, to Pidge, to his family._

_He feels lost, alone–he’s used to people surrounding him but here he feels trapped in loneliness. A sob escapes his lips; he doesn’t know when he has started to cry._

_One pair of eyes creeps closer, out of the dark. And Lance recongnizes the black panther._

*

It’s Monday, the day of the opening of Lance’s shop. Hunk already told him that he will go during his lunch break. Keith will do the same, after the other man has returned.

At 1pm Hunk finally returns and Keith can’t get out of the hangar fast enough. This morning Shiro teased him because of Keith’s agitation.

Hunk lifts an amused eyebrow as the raven passes him but he doesn't want to waste precious time so he lets it slide this time. He gets on his motorbike–her name's _Red_ –and takes off. On foot it would have taken him ten minutes but with _Red_ he arrives at the parking lot in two. He checks his hair in the side mirror and hurries to the shop.

A few feet away he already spots a large group of people in front of the shop. It’s packed. He remembers how anxious Lance has been on Friday, fearing that nobody would come. Hopefully Lance has made enough chocolate. Keith gets in line, hoping to even get the chance to see the brunet during his break. Indeed after twenty minutes he’s standing inside the shop, right at the entrance, which makes it possible to get a glimpse of the man behind the counter.

Lance is busily packing chocolate into translucent bags, talking animatedly with the costumers; his face is beaming with glee and happiness. Still Keith spots the dark circles under his eyes, they are not as prominent as on Friday–did he use concealer?

“Yo, Keith!”, he hears a voice from the front and when he pushes further in, rounding the mob of people, he finally spots Pidge standing right besides Lance. She’s managing the register.

As he steps closer to the counter, he notices the stares he gets from the costumers in line–they probably think he wants to line-jump. He goes to the corner, leaning against the wall, where he can still talk to Pidge but won’t bother the costumers. “Hey. Has it been this crowded since opening?”

Pidge tips in the order while she answers. “$20,10, please. Yep, some have already waited half an hour before opening time. I helped Lance get everything ready. Luckily I haven’t got classes until midafternoon. He wouldn’t be able to manage the day alone. Thanks, have a nice day.”

Keith’s eyes travel to the brunet, who won’t stop smiling. Pidge is probably right that Lance will break down later. “When is closing time?” He figures that now is not the best time for a talk, so he makes up the plan to visit him after work.

“That makes $10,90. I think he mentioned 3pm.” She scans the counter. “Or maybe earlier, if all the chocolate is gone.”

Which means Lance will need to make new ones for tomorrow. Meaning again no break. Checking the time Keith realizes that he needs to go back. “I need to go. Tell him I said ‘hi’.”

“Don’t you want some chocolates”, Pidge asks.

“Nah, I can wait. Bye.”

Keith exits the shop, taking one last look back at Lance. At the exact same moment the brunet looks up and catches his eyes. He looks surprised. Keith waves before he’s pushed out through the door.

*

“Man, I’m beat”, Pidge declares as the last costumer exits the shop. Lance is talking animatedly with an elder woman as he escorts her to the door. The girl rubs at her tired eyes as she slumps down onto a chair, which Lance had gotten for her from the back.

“Thanks for coming. I hope, you like them.”

“I surely will. I have guests for tea later. They will be delighted to try these wonderful looking chocolates. I’m sure they will come by in person next time.”

Lance grins down at the small woman, who’s two heads shorter than him. “Have a nice day, Mrs. Warren.”

“Call me Maggie, dear.” She reaches up to place a warm, wrinkled hand on his cheek. “And take a break. You look tired. Your grandmother would be worried”, she states, gently patting his cheek.

Lance smiles nervously. “I will.”

When Maggie Warren is gone, Lance finally switches the sign at the door to ‘CLOSED’. Letting out a long sigh he starts to check the baskets in front of the counter, where he placed the chocolate bars inside. Only a handful is left. Luckily the new order should arrive later. Rubbing a stiff shoulder he gathers the leftover bars in a single basket and heads back behind the counter.

“Thanks for the help, Pidgeon.” He places two bars on the counter in front of her. “Sorry, there are no more fresh made chocolates left. I didn’t expect so many costumers on the first day.” He can’t help but smile as he thinks back at the dozens of costumers which came in today. He really needs to make new chocolates.

“Sweet!” Pidge grabs the bars to store them away in her bag. Checking the clock, she looks around the room. “Do you need help with cleaning? I have thirty minutes left, if you need me.”

Checking the room himself, Lance shakes his head. “Nah, you can go. I’m gonna start making new ones.”

Pidge shoulders her bagpack. “Won’t you take a rest?”

Lance stifles a yawn. “Maybe later.” He waves his hand in a shooing gesture at her.

Pidge’s brows draw together, but she refrains from scolding. Fine, if Lance wants to overwork himself, she won’t stop him. As long as he doesn’t hit his head against a counter, she’s okay.

After the girl is gone, Lance makes his way into the kitchen, mind already spinning with new ideas.

*

It’s dark when Keith parks his red Ducati at the parking lot. He has gotten some ingredients from the supermarket on the way. Pidge had texted him some time ago about Lance’s plans to not take a break. Thus Keith decided to make something for dinner at Lance’s. Curry preferably. He makes a great Curry.

When he arrives at the shop, it’s dark inside; the backlight in the kitchen the only source of light. But Keith has a good night vision and spots a figure behind the counter. It’s Lance. And he’s sleeping with his head nestled on his arms on the counter. _That idiot_ , he thinks and starts to check the street for any bystanders. Before he gets ready for a jump, he has the idea to check the door. The handle goes down and the door opens. “He’s the king of idiots”, he mumbles disbelievingly.

Naturally he locks the door after him, keeping in mind not to wake Sleeping Beauty.

With his stealthy moves he manages to lift the man up in his arms–like a knight does with his princess–and slowly makes his way up into the apartment. On the way to the bedroom he notices how good Lance’s weight feels in his arms, how he likes his warmth against his body–how he wants to press him close and drink in his addicting smell of chocolate, cardamom and vanilla, which is purely Lance. God, he still can’t believe, how much he craves to be near this man.

When he finally places the still sleeping man onto his bed, he has to fight the urge to lay down himself and cradle him back in his arms. But luckily his stomach kindly reminds him that Lance will probably be as hungry as him after his nap– _if_ he wakes up again before dawn.

With a heavy heart he leaves the room and heads back into the kitchen to prepare dinner.

*

When he awakens, his back and feet ache, eyes still sticking together with sleep. He really wants to go back to sleep but his mind slowly reboots and he remembers that he needs to work.

So when he finally opens his eyes and is met with darkness, he feels a little panicked. All the more as he slowly realizes that he’s lying in his bed and doesn’t have a clue, how he has ended up in here. Damn. He must have really been exhausted to not remember anything after he had accepted the delivery. At least he didn’t have a nightmare for once.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he slowly sits up, noticing that he still has his clothes on. He starts to pull off his shirt, when he hears some clattering of dishes from outside his room.

Apparently someone else is here. Presumedly it’s Hunk. His big best buddy–brother in soul–had come back and carried him to his bed. That’s how he ended up here. Aww, and now he’s making him dinner.

_Hunk so deserves some goodies_ , Lance decides as he rises to change into some comfy joggers. Grabbing a shirt from a stack, he pulls open the door with a big grin plastered on his face to mask his tiredness. He strides confidentely to the kitchen. “Thanks, sweetheart for taking care of me”, he greets with a booming voice, so Hunk will definitely hear him over the noise. Naturally he means it in a teasing way, because well Hunk always takes care of him when Lance fails to.

The busy noise stops, apartment coming to silence and when Lance gets a glimpse into the kitchen corner, he nearly gets a heart attack.

It’s definitely _not_ Hunk, who stands at the oven, with Lance’s blue apron on and dark hair pulled up into a tiny ponytail. The man turns around, violet orbs wide open in surprise–and they turn only bigger when he rakes his eyes over Lance’s body. And that’s when Lance’s brain finally reboots for the second time.

Never before have his feet carried him back this fast into the safety of his bedroom. When the door slams shut behind him, he tries to catch his breath, back pressing up against the wood to keep him on his feet. His mind goes into overdrive as he tries to make sense of everything. He can feel the heat blooming on his cheeks and traveling down to his collarbone, further down to his chest–his very _naked_ chest. Which he had just presented Keith.

A whimper escapes his lips as he presses the shirt against his face in embarrassment. His face burns up with the memory of those heated eyes on him. _Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. I don't like long chapters, so I split the chapter into two parts. Part II will probably be up some time in May ^^'


	4. getting to know pt2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The previous chapters are now edited. Arg, so many spellings mistakes m(_ _)m  
> Thanks for all the lovely comments <3  
> And sorry for the delay. Again ...  
> I blame Horizon and Persona 5 for that.

* Two days later *

_He feels hot, really hot. His body is burning, like a fire scorching his very soul._

_But the body above him is cool, his touch similar to ice cubes melting on a hot surface–his skin–slowly running down his body. Inch by inch it brings salvation. When his eyes open, his burning gaze meets a sharp blue one. A shiver runs down his spine as cool bronze skin rubs against his own pale complexion, igniting sparks in his body. His fingers itch besides him–he so desperately wants to touch this fabulous, perfect unmarred skin. Wants to run his tongue over it–to taste, bite,_ claim _. Fuck, he’s getting hotter, the throbbing in his lower region is unbearable. His entire body aches with want, but he can’t make himself move._

_All he’s capable of is watching the glorious naked man above him. Their gazes lock again and Keith can see the mischievous glint in these so so blue eyes. He opens his mouth to tell the man that he wants him to lean closer, but his tongue feels heavy in his mouth, not able to form words. He just helplessly watches as the man gazes down at him, lips curved into a wicked smile._

 

And then he wakes up.

 

“Oi, cat got your tongue this morning?”, Cohen’s voice cuts through the silence at the breakfast table. 

Keith, who has been brooding over his scrambled eggs for quite some time now, looks up, face now twisted into an annoyed expression.

The energetic blond man ignores the murderous look he’s receiving, happily munching on a blueberry given by Samir next to him. “Didn’t sleep well?” His eyes glint mischievously, lips pulled into a knowing smile. And Keith just wants to get the hell away from this nosy brat. Technically Cohen is already 26 but he often acts like he’s still a teenager–grating on everybody’s nerves. 

“Did you have a nightmare, dear?“, Allura cuts in, brows creased in concern. Always the worrying mother. 

“Quite the opposite, judging by the noises I heard when I passed his room”, Cohen explains slyly. “How are things going with the pretty brunet? His sweets are delicious by the way.“

Oh, how he craves to get a grip around his neck and squeeze until that fucking blabbermouth chokes on his own tongue. He has to put up with giving him his most intimidating glare, but the other man just snickers and leans into his mate next to him for another bite of his blueberry pancake.

Samir just shakes his head at Keith and gives Cohen an especially big piece of breakfast. At least with his mouth occupied he won’t be able to dig his grave deeper. 

Allura seems to catch on nonetheless, luckily preferring to stay out of it. “Shiro brought some really well made sweets back home. I must admit that Lance knows his handicraft. I hope he doesn't overwork himself. How well was he after you left?”

Keith lets out a tired sigh as he remembers the previous night. After Lance came back, face a lovely shade of red, they ate the curry and talked about the day. Lance told him that he’d close the shop for the next days to concentrate on producing new chocolates. And Keith insisted that he should rest until the next day. “He’s managing.“

“Did he tell you something about his injury? Did he have trouble with his head?“, Allura inquires. 

The raven has to hide the smile behind his hand because this is so Allura-like to worry about people which are not even part of her Pack. It’s what makes her a good teacher. Her pupils are always around her. They give her presents for her birthday and for Christmas, which always moves her to tears.

Due to growing up without a mother, Keith always pictured her to be like Allura. Every day he’s glad to have met her and Shiro. They are the best substitute parents to have. And he really can’t wait to finally be an official member of their Pack.

“He didn't mention anything about trouble with his head”, he answers her after some time. “But I suspect he wouldn't tell me even if he had trouble.”

“That’s not good. I don't want him to hurt himself. That poor boy has already suffered enough.” She tips her finger against her chin. “Hmm, we could invite him to dinner on Friday. Then Coran has the chance to check up on him.”

“Yeah, maybe he'll bring some of his delicious chocolates”, Cohen cuts in. His green eyes glint with joy.

“Did you already eat all of your share?”, Shiro inquires with raised eyebrows. 

The blond man flushes and averts his eyes guiltily. His mate takes the chance to answer instead, “He even ate all of mine.” That earns him a slap against his shoulder from the embarrassed man beside him. 

Keith can’t help but snicker. 

 

Before he climbs on _Red_ to drive to work, he texts Lance, asking if he’d like to eat lunch with him. During the ride he notices the giddy fluttering in his stomach and wonders not for the first time why he cares so much about that human man. 

Ten minutes later he checks his phone. ‘Okay’, the message says. Keith’s heartbeat stutters for a moment. Then he types that he’ll bring some sandwiches he made this morning. 

For the next hours Keith can’t keep the smile from his lips.

*

Lance’s mind is reeling as he ponders over his situation. With a mug of steaming coffee in hand, he steps into the front room of the shop. He has a ton of products to make in such a short time. And he knows he won’t be able to keep that up for long. He needs help, damn. 

As he steps up to the door to put a note on the ‘CLOSED’ sign that he’d open up again on Friday, he stops in his stride as he notices a woman at the other side of the big window. Her eyes are looking inside, but she’s busily talking into her phone. When their eyes meet her face lights up and she motions with her hand to him and then to the door. 

For a moment Lance contemplates to turn around and ignore her–after all it was a _woman_ who tricked him a few days ago. But if he starts to scrutinize everyone he meets, he’ll get paranoid. _Like Keith_ , he thinks as he moves to unlock the door. The shifter would probably lecture him again for being so careless. When he opens the door he puts a warm smile on his face. 

During his mental debate the woman has ended her call and now steps inside to get a better look around. Lance has time to eye her up to make sure she means no harm. She’s got brown curly hair, cut short at the sides, but styled in a Mohawk in the middle; her skin is two shades darker than his and seems almost black; her eyes are a brilliant green and her ears sport a pair of golden Creoles. She looks likable. 

When she’s done with examining she turns around and extends a hand. “Hi, sorry for intruding. I know that you’re closed but a friend told me about your shop and I just had to take a look for myself. I’m Shay by the way.”

“Uh, Lance”, he takes her extended hand, “And welcome to my shop, I guess. Sadly I can’t offer you some chocolates. I’m in the process of making new ones”, he explains sheepishly. 

“Ah, I’m not here for the chocolate”, Shay clasps her hands together in front of her, fingers fiddling in a nervous habit. It reminds Lance of his own. “I mean, I… wanted to ask if you need help in the shop. I was told that it was busy yesterday and today you have to stay closed because you have to produce new sweets. But when you open again, you can’t focus on making sweets and taking care of the costumers, therefore I thought, that you might need help–” 

Lance’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Your friend told you about me?”, he inquires.

She nods her head. “I didn’t mean to push you. I mean, you don’t know me and I know it sounds shady but I–”

“I can’t pay you”, the brunet cuts in, “I don’t earn enough money to hire a helper yet. It’s correct that I need help but I’m sorry.” He really needs help and Pidge has to focus on her studies but the import from Brussels isn’t cheap.

“I don’t need to get paid”, she declares and Lance can’t help but give her a look of suspiciousness. Blinking up at him, Shay seems to understand how her words must sound to him. She takes a few deep breaths before she starts to explain, “A part of my family lives in South Africa. They own a coffee plantation. They just started their export to America and I’d like to sell their coffee here. My wish is to open a little coffee shop. From the money I saved I bought a professional coffee machine but I don’t have any money left for a shop. And when I told my friend about my plight, they told me about your shop. So, here I am”, she finishes her explanation, a hopeful smile on her pink lips. 

Lance cocks his head to the side in thought. “So basically you need a place to sell your coffee”, when she nods he continues, “and I need help selling my chocolate so I have the time to make new one.” Another nod from her and after several seconds Lance’s lips return her smile. “Sounds great. I need to get some paperwork done but I think there will be no problem with the township.” He walks to the counter to examine it. “I can move some things to the back to get room for your machine. Will it fit on the left side? I can get a little fridge to put under the counter for the milk. Luckily I left the sink here. It still works.” He turns around to the woman, who seems a little baffled at being accepted so easily. “Do you need anything else?”

The African woman blinks up at him. “Ah, are you serious?” Her tone is doubtful. She may seem confident in her demeanor but she probably didn’t expect that he would really accept her idea. So when it finally makes click in her mind that her plan indeed worked, she rushes over to him and pulls him into a hug. 

Lance’s breath leaves his lungs, damn this woman is strong. Her hug can compete with Hunk’s. 

After Shay lets go of him, she claps her hands together, “Would you like to try my coffee? I could come back later when you take a break.” Her green eyes shine with joy and excitement. 

The Cuban man takes a few seconds to think about his schedule for the day. “Would it be okay, if you come at 5pm? I kinda have a tight schedule for the next days.” And he has a lunch date in a few hours. With Keith. The handsome shifter with his unruly mullet. But he keeps these thoughts to himself.

“Sounds great”, she beams at him. Then she fumbles in her purse and fishes out her phone. “We should exchange numbers.” She hands it over for Lance to type in his contact details. 

A few minutes later Lance is alone again. 

 

Three hours and 50 chocolate balls and a baking tray full of brownies later his phone lights up with a message. Brushing the glove from his right hand, he swipes the message open. It’s Keith. And he’s standing at the front of the shop. After quickly checking his appearance in a mirror, he hurries to the front. He can’t help but grin at the man on the other side of the glass window, because this time he remembered to lock the door.

The Korean man cocks an eyebrow and rolls his eyes at the smug look he’s receiving, mock clapping with his hands. Lance laughs and opens the door. “Congratulation, you finally did as I told you”, Keith promptly tells him with a deadpan note in his voice. 

The chocolatier does a mock bow before he widely gestures for the other man to get inside. It earns him an amused huff from the raven. 

After locking up they head up to the second floor. “Did you get enough rest?“, Keith starts the conversation as they enter the living area. 

“Enough to keep functioning”, is the answer. “What do you wanna drink?”

Keith scrunches his brows, not content with the answer, but refrains from voicing his opinion out loud in favor of having a peaceful break together. “Water is enough.” He places his jacket on the back of a chair. “Shiro made Onigiri this morning. And I made some sandwiches”, he informs, as he unpacks some boxes with different contents from his backpack. 

“Sounds good. I made some brownies for dessert”, Lance states, as he sets up the table. 

Keith grins at him before he goes to wash his hands. After returning they sit down and start eating.

After a few minutes Lance surprises him with a question, “So, umm, can I ask you some stuff about shifters?” Keith has his mouth full with chicken, so he simply nods as a go for the other to ask. “How does human meat taste?”

The raven nearly chokes on the bite of the grilled chicken sandwich. After some heavy coughs to get air back into his lungs, his eyes meet Lance’s blue ones in an incredulous look. “Do you seriously want to talk about the flavor of human meat? _Now_?” Mouth full with rice Lance just shrugs with his shoulders, whereupon Keith shakes his head in astonishment. “Fine. How the meat tastes depends on the human being. We hunt criminals because they taste better than… people like you.” The brunet tilts his head in question, prompting Keith to elaborate. “Goody two shoes. People who don’t have any spark of evil in them. They taste stale. But people which have done so many evil things taste a whole palette of different flavors. You could compare it with seasoning meat with only salt and pepper or with a whole lot of spices.”

The dark skinned man scrunches his eyebrows together. “Is that why you didn’t eat me in the forest?” To be frank, Lance kind of hoped that the reason why Keith didn’t kill him was because of some attraction towards him and not because of his stale flavor. His eyes track the movement of Keith’s fingers as he pushes them through the bangs at his nape in what seems like a nervous habit. It’s clear that the question makes him nervous. So crushing any hope he has had, he waves his hand at him. “Chill, doesn't matter to me. I’m just thankful that you saved my ass before that creepy Dustin could have killed me. Never would have guessed that he was a psychopath. Geez, lucky me.” He stands up and retrieves a bottle with green tea from the fridge, purposefully avoiding locking eyes with Keith, who seems kind of lost with his behavior. 

For the remainder of the lunch break they talk about their hobbies–Lance’s blog and Keith’s training. 

 

After Keith has finished his third brownie, he leans back on his seat with a content smile on his face. “That was really delicious. You’re very good at making sweets.”

Lance blushes at the praise and takes the plates to the washer to hide his rosy cheeks. “Thanks. The food you brought was good too. Say thanks to Shiro for me.” 

Keith nods and grabs the glasses to put them in the sink but Lance beats him to it. “Let me do this.” He eyes the clock. “It’s almost time. Do you want to take some leftovers with you?”

The shifter checks the time, then eyes the brownies. “Sure. I can give some to Hunk.”

Lance grins and shuffles through the cupboard for a plastic box. 

While Keith waits he remembers Coran’s suggestion. “Do you have plans for Friday evening?”, he asks seemingly casual.

The brunet looks up from placing the brownies in the box. “Uhh, apart from making sweets? No.” His blue eyes shine curiously as he watches the other man. He squints his eyes–is that a blush on his cheeks?

The raven takes a gulp. “Would you like to eat dinner with my Pa–with my family?” After the words are out he realizes the meaning of them and before Lance can panic and decline, he adds, “Coran mentioned a check-up. He’s worried and just wants to make sure that you’re okay. And then Allura suggested you could join us for dinner.”

Lance’s eyes travel back to the sweets on the table. Again he has hoped that Keith invited him to dinner because he wanted him to properly meet his family like–some kind of… yeah, what exactly? They’ve barley known each other for a week, spent some time together, but here Lance is thinking– _hoping–_ to be someone more like a friend to Keith. It’s certainly too much too fast. 

So he puts on a hopefully not too fake smile on his face as he finishes packing the brownies and passes Keith the box. “Sure. What time should I be there?”

The raven takes the offered box, the violet in his orbs starts to glow. “I’ll pick you up at six thirty.”

When they part at the shop’s entrance Lance doesn’t miss the little grateful smile on Keith’s lips or how his own heart flutters at seeing it.

_Stupid feelings_ , he scolds himself and shuts the door with a little too much force behind himself.

*

For the last hour all Keith has done is check the clock every ten minutes. He can’t understand why he feels so restless, anxious about Lance eating dinner at his home with his Pack. Maybe it’s because he’s never been interested in someone who was worth getting to know his family. In the past he has done some one-nighters with human men but never at home. 

Shifters usually tend to choose their own kind to get into a relationship. But the shifters he has met during trips around the States weren’t so open about their sexual orientation like him. It’s not easy to find a partner with the same gender, even in these days. Humans might be more permissive about same gender relationships but shifters still aren’t. Procreation is most important.

“Hey, Keith, are you okay?”, Hunk’s voice cuts through his line of thought. 

The raven blinks to focus back into present as he looks over the monitor to the other mechanic, who’s giving him a worried look. Brushing sweaty bangs out of his neck, he shakes his head. “Just tired.”  _And nervous_ , he adds in his mind.

Hunk nods, now looking sober. “Lance told me about your invitation.” Keith blinks, not really surprised. He knows that Hunk and Lance are sort of like brothers. “Look man, I know he’s not in danger with you, but please don’t hurt him.” He stops in his speech. “He’s not like you and despite acting tough and confident, in reality he is not. So if you want to be just friends with him, make sure to tell him that.” When he takes a step closer, Keith is surprised by the menacing look on his face. “And if you just want some short fling then stop now. I won’t let someone hurt him again.”

In the two years he has known Hunk he has never seen him so intend and serious–a force to be reckoned with. It’s obvious in his demeanor that he _will_ make sure that no harm comes to his best friend. And with that he earns Keith’s respect. 

To show him that he’s indeed serious, he stands up and reduces the distance between them to a foot. “I ensure you that I’m serious about him. And I promise you that I won’t hurt him–neither physically nor mentally.” He pauses for a moment, searching inside himself for the feelings he’s developed. “I like him. And I want to know more about him. I don’t really understand these strong desires but what I know for sure is that I want to explore the possibilities I can have with him.” After a second he adds, “If _he_ wants it too.” Then he waits.

Hunk’s face visibly shows the process of his thoughts, how he seems to evaluate his words. And after some time a small smile and a nod lift the tension off the air. “I take you by your words.” He extends his hand.

Keith takes it and catches the meaning in the following squeeze, _i_ _f you hurt him, I will hurt you._

 

When it’s finally six Hunk offers to close up the workshop and Keith just shouts his thanks as he rushes back to change. He has half an hour to get to Lance but he still hurries, barely checking in a mirror if his face is clean from any oil stains. He will take a shower at home after he has picked up Lance. Coran’s check-up will give him enough time to clean up. Hopefully Lance won’t notice his sweaty smell during the ride on _Red_. 

 

When he later arrives at the parking lot, Lance is already waiting by his car. Initially Lance is confused, not recognizing him with the helmet on. Stopping next to him, he kills the engine and pushes up the visor of his helmet. “’Sup.”

It’s funny how Lance’s expression changes from confusion to surprise as he recognizes his voice and probably eyes–the street lamp is right besides them. “Hi, umm, nice bike.” His blue eyes shine with wonder as he eyes _Red_ and then Keith in his leather outfit. 

His sense of smell is a little restricted by the helmet but he’s sure that he detects a hint of interest in Lance’s scent. Apparently he’s not the only one who likes the leather on himself. Hiding the grin behind his helmet, he reaches for the bag at the side of _Red_ to get the second helmet.  “Thanks, her name’s Red.”

As Lance takes the offered helmet, Keith notices the grin on his face and cocks his head in question. The brunet motions with his head to his car. “My car’s called Blue.” The glint in his eyes disappears behind the helmet. From the jump in his heartbeat he can make out that Lance also feels the little connection they share with giving their transportations names. The brunet zips up his jacket, but seems to hesitate with climbing on.

“This your first time riding a bike?” A hesitant nod is the answer. “Don’t worry. Riding with a shifter is safer than riding with a normal human. You just have to swing your leg over the rear and take a seat behind me.” He motions with a finger to the small footrest. “There’s one on each side for your feet. Before you put them up, you should put your hands on my shoulders for support. But during the ride put your arms around my waist and lean on my back. That way you won’t have too much trouble with the airstream. Got it?”

“Yeah.” Lance follows his instructions albeit a little reluctant. When he finally got both feet up on the footrests, he slowly wraps his arms around Keith’s middle. Keith waits until he feels the pressure of Lance’s body against his back, before he starts the engine. The small trembling of the other’s hands doesn’t go unnoticed. 

He briefly puts a hand on the interlaced ones at his stomach, squeezing them. “Hold on tight”, he calls out over his shoulder, voice louder to drown the rumble of the engine. 

Lance nods at his back and Keith takes it as his cue to start.

 

Fifteen Minutes later they arrive at the mansion. If Keith was alone, he would have only needed five, but it being Lance’s first ride, he had been driving slower, hoping to get the brunet to like it. He would like to make a tour with Lance on _Red_ in the future. Maybe in four months, when summer starts and Lance has got more free time.

“You can climb down now. I’ll hold the machine still”, he instructs after killing the engine. He watches the man clumsily pull his leg up and nearly toppling down. Keith grabs his arm in time to keep him steady, keeping the machine upright with the strength of his legs. A mere human wouldn’t been able to manage that. 

“Hehe, sorry. My legs are kinda jumbled”, Lance apologizes, as he pulls his helmet off and shakes his head a little.

“No problem. You’ll get used to it”, the words are out of his mouth before he realizes their actual meaning. Before he can say something to lessen the implication, Lance beats him to it.

The tan on his cheeks seems to dip to red as he replies with a shy smile. “Sure. Just need some time to accustom.” 

Keith closes his mouth, stupidly blinking at the man with the cute blush on his face. This time it’s his own heart that skips a beat. 

Before he can do something to further embarrass himself, the door of the mansion opens, revealing Allura with Shiro at her side. Considering their stifled smiles they surely had eavesdropped on their embarrassing conversation. Damn. They always had to be curious about his love life–or lack of it. “Lance! It’s so nice of you to come for dinner.” 

The brunet turns around and climbs up the three stairs to the entrance. As soon as he’s in range, Allura has already pulled him into a hug. She tends to give hugs to people she likes. Lance seems baffled, judging by his stiff shoulders. The helmet just hangs by a tread of his fingers and would have fallen down, if not for Shiro’s quick reflex to grab it in time. Allura seems to notice his accelerated heart beat too, because she takes a step back, happy smile replaced by a concerned frown. “Ah, sorry. It’s a habit of mine. I forgot that we didn’t meet at the best conditions.” 

Lance scratches his head sheepishly and Keith can see the blush lingering on his cheeks. It’s probably rather embarrassment than discomfort.

“Coran is waiting in his office. I will show you the way”, Allura instructs, motioning for Lance to follow her inside. “You still got some time until dinner is served.”

The brunet turns around to check with Keith who nods in agreement, before he moves to follow her.

Meanwhile Keith takes the chance to move _Red_ into the garage with Shiro on his tracks to put the second helmet away. 

“So”, the older male starts as he watches the younger park the bike into her spot, “Lance is now your friend.”

“Yup.”

Shiro cocks an eyebrow at that one-syllable answer. “Anything more?”

Rubbing through his tousled hair, Keith shrugs his shoulders. “Not yet. Im not sure if he likes me more than a friend.” Although Hunk had hinted that Lance indeed does. But he needs _Lance’s_ confirmation.

They start to walk around the mansion to enter through the back door of the sunroom, where they’re going to eat dinner together. “But you want more than his friendship”, Shiro concludes, expression serious. 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s strange because I met him less than a week ago but I _know_ that I want to be with him. Does this make any sense?”

“Absolutely. The same happened between Allura and me. Upon our first meeting as kids we had this kind of pulling feeling towards each other. It got stronger after our first shifting. Deep within we knew that he would be mates. Same goes for Samir and Cohen. It applies to every shifter.” They enter the sunroom where aforementioned shifters are busily setting the table. Pixie and her son Jessi are present too. 

As soon as they are spotted Jessi runs over to get a hug from Keith. The man ruffles his blond hair, earning a wide grin from the kid. “Uncle Keith, I got a new game today!”

Keith smiles fondly down. “Show me tomorrow after breakfast, ’kay?”

“Aye!” And with that he runs off again. 

“But Lance isn't a shifter. He’s just a human, so I’ve got no guarantee that my instincts are correct with him. I’m careful. I try not to be too clingy, but it’s hard, because I’ve got this constant urge to _get close_ to him–to touch. It’s an itch that I can’t scratch. And it’s driving me mad!”, he admits begrudgingly, hands rubbing over his arms, face, hair. “But I can’t relent. I don’t know if I would drive him away when I act on my feelings.”

Shiro can probably see the inner turmoil in the depths of his violet orbs–a power strong like a storm, raging with such force through his veins. He doesn’t know how long it takes until his instincts will overpower him. Until the beast strikes, finally taking what’s his. And he’s afraid to get rejected. 

The warm hand on his shoulder pulls him back from the mess of his thoughts. “You could get the excessive energy out of your system with hunting some deer at night. Overexerting yourself can soothe the ache at least a little bit”, the older shifter suggests. “I can’t promise you that it will make the urge go away but at least the beast would be more quiet during the day.”

Keith mulls over the suggestion as he walks to his room to take a shower. He could ask Samir and Cohen to accompany him tonight. 

Dressed in fresh clothes with his hair still a little bit wet from showering, Keith heads from his room over to Coran’s office. Shiro had told him that dinner would be ready in five minutes so Keith offered to get Lance and Coran. 

As he gets closer to said room his sharp ears pick up muffled voices talking behind the closed door of the office. He halts in his steps. He shouldn’t eavesdrop, really not, but the tone in Lance’s voice is troubled and as the word ‘nightmares’ falls, Keith can’t stop himself from getting closer. Lance has never mentioned nightmares before. 

Coran’s voice is a little muffled by the door but Keith can make out pretty clear what he’s saying from standing beside the door. “Do the nightmares have a common topic? Do you remember them after waking up?”

Keith wonders if they’re the reason why Lance looks exhausted every day even if he now got some time to relax a little with his shop.

A few silent seconds tick by until Lance proceeds to answer the question. He sounds hesitant. “Y-yeah, I remember. It’s always the same dream. I’m in the forest, it’s dark. And beyond the treeline I can see eyes watching me.” Then he pauses and Keith can guess that there’s more. 

“You can be honest with me, Lance. I’m a doctor, everything you talk about will stay between us.” At his words Keith feels guilt forming in his stomach, a tiny ball twisting in his gut–but he stays. He _has_ to know what Lance is going to say next.

“It’s Keith… I see Keith”, Lance admits and with that the guilt in Keith’s gut changes into dread. 

“Is the Keith in your nightmares different?”

“He’s in his animal form. He’s never human. And he doesn’t harm me. It’s just like the night in the woods. I see him eating and then he stalks closer but when he’s close to me I wake up. My heart is racing and I’m drenched in sweat. And then I’m afraid to fall back asleep. So I get up and do something to get my mind on something else.” When Lance has finished his explanation, Keith wants nothing more than to open the door, pull Lance into his arms and tell him that he isn’t that monster from his dreams. He would never hurt him. In neither form of his. But he can’t show himself to him now. Not after Coran had told him that Lance’s secrets were save between them. 

Rubbing over his face, he leans his back against the wall besides the door. With his eyes closed he takes a deep breath. The urge to run off into the woods is strong, but he stifles it–has to, because running away won’t solve the problem Lance has with him. _Lance is scared. He suffers because of me. I’m the reason he has trouble with sleeping._ With these thoughts in mind he moves in front of the door and knocks two times. “Dinner’s ready“, he announces his presence.

The door opens, revealing Coran. By his expression Keith can see that Coran already knew from the beginning that Keith was present, but he doesn’t say anything about it. “You can go down Lance. I will get some medicine for you and come down in a few minutes. You can start without me.”

Lance has stood up and hesitantly moves to the door, closer to Keith, who’s still standing on the spot, eyes trained on the brown skinned man. He must have seen something in his expression, because when Keith takes a few steps back into the hallway, Lance follows, eyebrows drawn together. “You okay?”

Instead of telling the truth, Keith options for a lie. “Everything’s fine.” And with that he turns around to walk down the steps. In his peripheries he can see Lance reaching a hand out to probably touch him, but Keith steps away faster. He knows, if the man touches him, he won’t be able to keep his distance. 

*

Dinner is fantastic, the Pack is fantastic–everyone is nice to him. Except Keith, who has stayed silent since coming down from Coran’s office. His cold behavior is daunting. Especially since Lance has come to appreciate spending time with the shifter after the few days he has known him. And although he suffers from the nightmares about him in his animal form, he's not afraid of him when he’s close to him. He knows that Keith won’t hurt him. Even upon their first encounter he hasn’t touched him. 

And after all those times spent together, Lance thought that the feelings were mutual–that Keith wanted to spend time with him too, because it was always him who initiated contact. But now Lance isn’t so sure about that anymore. When he tries to make eye contact with the shifter, the raven stubbornly looks down at his plate–with an expression that seems to be distress. 

And maybe he just wants to make sure that Lance doesn't spill their secret. Looking around the table, at all these shifters who are friendly to him–maybe they all want to make sure that he won’t go to the police. But that wouldn't work, because Shiro’s a local police officer and nobody there would believe Lance, _if_ he planned to talk. But he won’t. And he will make sure that they know it. Even if it means that he won’t see Keith anymore. 

So after dessert is eaten, he takes the chance to speak up, “Thanks for the meal. It was really delicious, Allura. I know that you are good people, so I won’t tell anyone about your secret. My head is fine and nobody threatened me again, so you don’t have to look after me.” The next words are dedicated to Keith, “You’re not obligated to spend time with me.” The smile he puts on is fake, but he hopes that they don’t see through it. “It’s late and I have work tomorrow. Thanks again.” 

With a glance to the raven Shiro stands up. “I’ll drive you back.”

“No, you don’t have to. I’ll walk back, it’s not that far–”, Lance begins but his voice dies down as a growl erupts from the table. When he turns his head to the source, he’s surprised by the heated glare he receives from Keith, who has risen from his seat. 

“You are not walking home by yourself!”, he orders, voice strong, authoritative. Lance gulps, neck prickling and stays silent. He watches Keith take the keys from Shiro and storm out of the room. It takes a minute to realize that he will have to agree. Quickly thanking Allura again for the dinner and Coran for checking on him, he follows after Keith.

When Lance reaches the still opened front door, Keith is already waiting in Shiro’s Audi. Taking a deep breath, he braces himself for the ride.

Usually he can’t keep his mouth shut during car rides, filling them with chatter, music or funny anecdotes from his life. But right now his brain can’t seem to find words for his mouth to form. He doesn’t understand Keith’s motives concerning him. Why does he still insist to drive him home if he thinks of Lance as a nuisance? When he takes a peek to the side he notices Keith’s stiff posture. His face is an impassive mask–lips pulled into a thin line, eyes trained on the road ahead. His fingers are holding the steering wheel in a tight grip, knuckles white from the pressure. And Lance just wants the ride to be over; the air is so heavy with tension that it feels like he’s suffocating from it.

It’s the first time Lance sees such a look from him and it’s creeping him out. The ball of dread he feels in the pit of his stomach grows. This Keith seems to be worlds apart from the man he talked to two days ago. If this is how he really feels towards him, then Lance doesn’t want to bother him anymore. 

With these dark thoughts swirling around in his mind, they arrive at the parking lot. Lance prepares to turn around and tell Keith that he won’t bother him anymore, but the other man simply gets out of the car without so much as a word. Lance is baffled. Even more so when the passenger door is suddenly yanked open from outside. The brunet regards him nervously through the opened door, expression still closed off. The urge to crawl deeper into the car is laughable. But who would want to get closer to a person with that face. He readies himself for a second attempt to tell him his mind, but again Keith beats him to it with turning around and walking off towards his shop. Lance is left with grumbling to himself before he gets out to follow begrudgingly. 

A five minute walk turns into agonizing 15 minutes. When they finally arrive at the shop, Keith keeps some distance to the door so that Lance has access to it. Fumbling with the keys, he can _feel_ the burn of his gaze on his back and finally snaps. Turning around, he glares at the shifter, who seems a tad surprised at his expression. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Why do you keep pushing me about my safety if it’s obviously a nuisance for you? Is it because you feel obligated to me? I told you, I won’t tell your secret.” His voice dies down because it’s late at night and he doesn’t want his neighbors to overhear their discussion. “So thanks for the effort, but you don’t have to get involved with me anymore. I don’t want to be a nuisance.” He turns around to open the door but a hand on his arm stops him. 

“You are not a nuisance”, Keith finally answers. Lance looks over his shoulder but the violet orbs are downcast. He feels the heat from Keith’s hand burning through the materials of his clothes. It’s not bad. He doesn’t move a muscle in fear the other will loosen his hold. 

Seconds tick by as the silence lingers. The brunet doesn’t know how long they stood like that, before Keith finally meets his gaze. His heartbeat accelerates when he sees the smoldering orbs glinting in the dark of the night. There seem to be swirling so many emotions in them, which the man apparently isn’t able to voice right now. And Lance really has the urge to turn around, take him in his arms and spill his feelings. Instead he gets something better. 

Keith moves a step forward, hand pulling to turn him around, so that Lance ends up with his back pressed against the door. Now Keith is right in front of him. When Lance unconsciously licks his lips, the burning eyes track the motion. The world seems to have switched into slow motion as the shifter leans forward and Lance feels anticipation overwrite his anxiousness. An inch away Keith stops and seems to reconsider his action. But Lance doesn’t want him to move away, so he takes matters in his own hands and leans in, sealing his lips over Keith’s.

*

He can hear the frantic beating of Lance’s heart, smell the sweat on his neck–virtually taste his nervous anticipation. Lance’s lips are dry and chapped from nervous biting but it still feels like Keith’s lips belong against his. So when the brunet pulls away, Keith recaptures his lips in a kiss, while his body pushes against the other’s, resulting in Lance letting out a surprised gasp. Given the opportunity the raven pushes his tongue between his lips and–oh boy, the taste of Lance himself seems like heaven. His free hand hovers over Lance’s waist, still afraid if he really touches him, the man will pull back.

But then he feels Lance’s hands twine around his neck, fingers digging into the curls at his nape, which he takes as the permission to put his hands on the slim waist. Their tongues dance in Lance’s mouth; brush and push against another. Keith feels hot, hotter than usually. The blood in his veins is boiling. Where Lance’s hands brush over his exposed skin, it tingles. The beast within himself rises. The hunger, which usually overcomes him before a hunt, is back and it surprises him. This time it’s not meat he craves; he hasn’t got the urge to dig his fangs through flesh and tear it apart–no, nothing like that. His teeth graze over Lance’s supple bottom lip and when a moan slips from him between their joined mouths, a deep rumble rings out from his chest. He can feel the other man shudder against him and that finally snaps him out of his haze.

Ending the kiss with a wet pop, he pulls his face away to eye the other man, who is desperately trying to catch his breath–cheeks flushed, eyes heavy lidded, blue swirling in them like roaring ocean waves. Keith wants nothing more than to press his lips back on his–on his whole body–and claim this man as _his_.


	5. miscommunication pt 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated birthday to my precious son!! I love you so much ♡ ♡  
> I apologize for the delay … I blame Persona 5 … again. Dang, this game is just so freaking amazing! But I’ve almost finished the game ٩(˃̶͈̀௰˂̶͈́)و and will hopefully be a little quicker with updating … IF season 3 doesn't bleed my heart dry. Just ONE week left, oh my gosh!!!! ♡ ♡  
> Thank you for all the lovely comments, kudos and subscriptions ^3^

* One week later *

Lance doesn’t know when the dreams he has from the midnight beast turn from terrifying to sinful. He still wakes up drenched in sweat, heart frantically beating in his chest–but it’s not from fear anymore.

Over the past week he and Keith built a steady ritual: Keith visits him during his break to eat at his home, where he has prepared lunch. With Shay now sharing the shop he can easily take a break while the shop is opened with her watching over it. Then they will close the shop for her break and he can continue working on his goodies. Shay is a really nice woman who’s fun to talk to and Lance comes to enjoy her presence at his shop. It’s livelier with her around and he somehow feels a little less alone. 

Today is Saturday and Lance was invited by Keith to a barbecue with his family. Allura and Shiro will be gone for the next week, hence the special dinner. Lance has agreed because one, he really likes barbecue and two, Keith has insisted that he should take a break. And like the lovesick idiot he is, he promised to come and bring something for dessert. 

So now here he is, standing at 7am in the kitchen to prepare the cake. So much for taking a break and sleeping in. When the sponge mixture is in the oven, Lance takes the time for a short breakfast consisting of coffee and eggs with bacon. Sitting at the counter with a perfect view of the oven, Lance browses through his social media sites. Here and there he catches some feedsfrom family members, which he comments, and answers some questions on his blog. He plans to upload the recipe of the cake he’s currently making, therefore he will take extra care to get it done well. Killing two birds with one stone.

He’s got eleven hoursuntil Keith arrives to pick him up and he plans to spend the time lucratively. In the time the cake needs to cool down, he prepares the filling, simultaneously writing down the next order he needs from Brussels. Tomorrow is Sunday, then he can take a break. 

 

Ten minutes until 6pm Lance leaves his home, cake safely stored in a neat plastic box. Luckily he finished every task he has written previously in his notebook. At Monday he will resume his work but now he can chill and enjoy the evening with Keith. 

Said shifter has already arrived in Shiro’s car and is waiting for him on the parking lot. Lance casts an apologetic look to _Blue_ , because he hasn't used her in a week. Juggling the box in one hand, he opens the car door with the other and carefully gets inside; the box now safely balancing on his lap when he finally sits down. Luckily it’s an Audi Q7, which made the climbing in a lot easier. After successfully buckling up, he finally turns his head to greet Keith, but the man is already waiting for him–half leaning over the middle console, he snatches a kiss from the surprised brunet. Grinning smugly at the flabbergasted look from the other, the raven turns the engine on and leaves the parking lot.

Lance turns his face back around to hide the blush adorning his cheeks.

 

The last time Lance was visiting, the doors of the sunroom were closed but today the evening is mild, therefore the large window-like doors are open, letting the spring air waft inside. Mixed with the delicious smell of grilled meat it is a heavenly atmosphere inside. The shifters gathered inside are busily working on setting the table, placing bowls with different contents on it.

Allura is the first one to greet him, walking over to them with a warm smile on her face, blue eyes shining. “It’s so nice that you came, Lance. What’s that?” Her eyes shift curiously down to the box in his hands. He hasn’t told anybody exactly what he’d bring for dessert.

A bright grin spreads on his lips, “It’s a surprise. But it needs to be cooled. Do you have space left in your fridge?”

“Sure. Give me the box, I will find a place for it. Thanks, dear. I’m looking forward to it. Everybody will”, she says, smiling fondly as she takes the box from him.

“Don’t take a peek”, Lance orders sternly, which earns him a little playful huff from her before she heads for the kitchen. 

“She’s definitely going to take a peek”, Keith states, grin on his lips. “Can’t wait to get a taste.” His tongue licks over his lips, which gets him a nudge from the brunet.

“You have to wait until after dinner”, Lance tells him. 

“Too bad, I don’t think I can wait that long.” Then he turns abruptly around and closes the space between them until their noses are inches apart. “Maybe I’ll last if I get a taste of something else”,  he breathes, voice a low purr, which gives Lance a whole-body shiver. And damn, his face is heating up again. 

“Hey, Lance!” It’s Cohen’s voice that saves him from a lame retort he would have possibly made. The blond man stops in front of them and pulls him into a hug. So it’s not just an Allura-thing to hug people you’ve barely know for a few hours. Maybe it’s a shifter-thing? But Shiro hasn’t given him a hug, nor Coran. And Keith prefers kisses…

“You _must_ come with me and choose the meat you want to eat. Guests first!”, Cohen declares, taking his arm and leading him in the direction of the garden. “Gonna borrow your sweetheart for a bit, Keith”, he calls over his shoulder at the raven. 

”S-sweatheart?”, Lance sputters, turning even more red and taking a peek over his shoulder at the other shifter. Their eyes meet for a brief moment until Keith turns his head around and stalks in the other direction, but Lance caught the blush nonetheless. 

“Which meat do you prefer? Personally I’d recommend the chicken. Allura makes a really good sauce for them. She preserves them overnight. Or do you like steak?”

They stop in front of the grill area where Shiro stands, clad in an apron–which is too small for his buff chest–with the barbecue tongs in his right hand. “Hey, Lance”, he greets them. “The steaks are ready in two minutes, but the chicken still needs a little bit more time.” There are two braziers–one for the steaks and the other for the other meat.

Lance smiles up at him. “I’ll take the chicken.” Next to him Cohen pumps his fist in the air in victory, which earns him chuckle from him. 

Then the blond sneaks his arm around his shoulder. “Soo, I caught sight of a box in your hands. What’s in there? Maybe some chocolate?” His tone is playful, underlined by his big grin. 

Lance juts his hip out and shakes a finger at the other man. “Nu uh, it’s a surprise. I’m not telling you.”

“Aww, no fair. I bet Keith knows what’s inside”, the blond pouts, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Nope. He doesn’t”, Lance pops the ‘p’ and grins.

Cohen cocks his head to the side, regarding him with a thoughtful expression. “But you did already kiss right?”, the sudden question takes Lance off-guard, because _why_ would he ask something like that? It’s nothing he needs to know. 

Shiro must have the same opinion, because the next second he whacks Cohen against his head with the dishtowel he kept tied to the apron. “Don’t be nosy.”

Rubbing his aching head, the blond pouts at them. “Meanie.” Then he turns around and walks back inside, whining on his way. “Samir, Shiro hit me!”

From inside they can hear Samir’s flat retort, “You probably deserved it.” Lance tries to stifle a laugh behind his hand. 

“You have to excuse him, he means no harm, he just gets excited about getting to know someone new”, Shiro explains, fond smile on his lips as he opens the cover of the brazier to inspect the meat. 

Lance’s eyes travel from the shifters in the sunroom to the buff man. “Do you not interact often with people outside your Pack?”

“Sure, but it’s not like we can be entirely ourselves with them. We have to keep our secret save.” After closing the cover, Shiro turns his gaze on him. “But you know about us, thus it’s easier to talk freely”, the smile on his lips grows bigger. “I have to admit, that I’m a little glad, that Keith found you in the woods.”

Lance’s cheeks grow warmer as he turns back to the shifters gathered around the table and finds Keith’s figure among them. Together with Samir he looks at a game Jessi is showing them on his portable game console. The smile on Keith’s lips is so bright that Lance mirrors it unconsciously. “Yeah, me too”, he admits after a minute. When he turns his attention back on Shiro, he’s surprised as he’s pulled into a half hug. That makes it three out of eight. 

 

After dinner is finished, Lance follows Allura to the kitchen to get the cake. He needs to make sure that the cake will make it back to the table unscathed. The others stay seated at the table, so Lance and Allura are alone in the room. 

As soon as he lifts the cover, Allura lets out a small squeal. “Oh my god, it’s beautiful, Lance! You’re really talented.”

The brunet smiles under the praise and offers her a grin. “Thanks, I hope everyone likes it.”

“You bet! They will love it!” She grins, rummaging in a cupboard for the plates. “I was wondering, if you could maybe make a birthday cake for Keith? I will pay you, naturally.”

Lance looks up from inspecting the cake, eyes widened in surprise. “Uh, sure, yeah. When is his birthday again?”

Allura’s smile falters. “Oh, he hasn't told you? It’s two weeks from Thursday. It’s a big event in our culture. On their twenty-fifth birthday shifters choose their Pack.”

Lance ignores the little stab in his chest after hearing this. No, Keith hasn't mentioned something this important. “Does that mean, that Keith could leave?” He’s aware that they still haven’t talked about how serious they are with each other, but Keith not telling him about the possibility that he could be gone in just two weeks still hurts. It means that he’s not important enough to know this. And he doesn’t want to develop feelings for a guy who virtually barged into his life, only to leave a month later.

“Oh, dear”, Allura’s voice cuts through his line of thought and engulfs him into a hug. He has to admit that he likes her hugs; she’s warm and soft against his frame. And her eyes are blue like his own and full of emotion. “I’m sorry to assault you with this issue. I thought, you already knew.”

He shakes his head, face brushing against soft white locks. “We haven’t talked about our relationship yet. It’s still so new. But I guess, I would have liked for him to talk to me about that.”

Warm hands start running up and down soothingly over his back. “I’m sure he hasn’t told you yet because he won’t leave. I’m ninety-nine percent sure that he will stay with us. But I think you two should talk after dessert. Tonight. Before it goes further.”

And now she sounds like his mother. Perfect. Lance snorts a laugh into her hair, which earns him a soft smack against his arm. 

 

As predicted Lance is welcomed back with great vigor; all eyes are on the cake as he places it down on the table. Lance takes a peek at Keith and is surprised to find his gaze on him and not on the cake. He has a half-smile on his lips, eyes gleaming–apparently he likes the cake as well. Lance is glad and it makes the little anxious ball in his gut less painful right now. 

The knife blade slices without problems through the cake, dividing it in twelve pieces. Allura has brought the plates with her and hands him one by one, whereon he places a piece each. “This looks sooo perfect”, he hears Cohen praise to his left and Lance smiles at him. 

As soon as everybody has a plate and Lance sits down, they dig in. Some with vigor–like Cohen and Jessi–and others with greater care, savoring more–Allura, Shiro. Lance doesn't really got an appetite; he’s stuffed from the barbecue and his mind is still running wild with the question, why Keith hasn’t told him about his birthday. 

Jessi is the first to talk. “Do we get to eat more yummy cake from now on, mama?” His eyes are wide open, glinting with joy. Then he turns around to look at Keith. “Uncle Keith, I like your mate!” 

Lance’s eyes immediately dart over to Keith, who has chocked on his drink after Jessi’s exclamation and currently tries to get air back into his wind-pipe.

Jessi blinks innocently up at the adults. “Mama, as uncle Keith’s mate, Lance belongs to the Pack, right?” He turns his head back, caramel eyes back on the brunet. “Can I call you uncle Lance? Will you bring another cake for uncle Keith’s birthday?”

Meanwhile Keith is still occupied with wheezing and Shiro has to slap him on his back to help, while Lance feels every pair of eyes on him. Cheeks tinted pink, he searches for words. Pixie has mercy on him and answers her son, “We can visit Lance on Monday after school to take a look at his shop. I’m sure he’d love to show you how he makes the chocolates, right Lance?”

Lance nods mutely, still too flabbergasted to give a proper answer. When his gaze turns back on Keith, he notices that the other man looks also flustered. Jessi grins up at him and Lance smiles fondly, memories of his siblings in mind. 

“No fair, I wanna visit too!”, Cohen exclaims, mouth full, his slice of cake already finished. Samir sitting next to him shakes his head in fond exasperation. “Can I?”, he looks at Lance pleadingly.

“Uh, sure. What time would you like to come?”

Pixie contemplates for a moment. “He’s got soccer practice after school. Is five o’clock okay for you?”

Lance nods and Jessi grins up at him, while Cohen, this time his mouth is empty, pumps a fist in the air–seems like a habit of his. “I wanna know everything about your chocolates!” Then his eyes fall upon Lance’s untouched slice of cake. He doesn’t need to voice the question for Lance to understand what he wants. He offers him his plate, which Cohen takes with a big grin. “Thanks, man, you’re the best.” And digs in again.

It reminds him of his younger brother Thiago, who also has a weakness for his cakes. A fond smile spreads on his lips as he watches Cohen devour his creation. 

Both men don’t notice the jealous looks they get from Keith and Samir. But Pixie does and hides her giggle behind a raised hand. Her son gives her a curious look. She smiles down at him, fondly brushing a hand through his hair, eyes gleaming. “Don’t worry, sweetie, you’ll understand when you’re older.”

 

After dessert is finished Cohen, Samir and Shiro start to clean up the table, while Allura, Pixie, Coran and Jessi head outside. Lance offers to help, but Keith takes his hand and pulls him through the other door to the main hall. “Shouldn’t we help?”, the brunet asks, because he’s used to helping at home.

“Nah, this month it’s Shiro’s job, and you’re a guest. Rule one, guests don’t need to help”, Keith answers over his shoulder, as he softly drags Lance up the stairs. With his hand in Keith’s own the brunet follows him timidly. 

Last time he visited, Lance only got to stay on the second floor, but Keith takes the stairs up to the third, which has fewer doors than the second. 

Keith opens the door at the far end of the corridor on the right and suddenly they’re standing outside on a roof-top terrace, right under the dark night sky with a beautiful view of the glowing stars. Lance blinks up, stunned for a moment from this magnificent display of the night. “Wow”, he mumbles, transfixed by the stars. He feels Keith tug on his hand and follows him further until they come to a stop at the balcony parapet, where they can look down on the garden. In the darkness he can spot figures moving around.

Lance takes a double look as he realizes that the figures are not human-shaped. His blue eyes roam curiously over the moving bodies, which are apparently fooling around. “Are they playing tag?”, he asks, baffled.

He hears Keith chuckle beside him, the motion vibrating down his arm that’s pressed up against Lance’s own. “Yep. It’s nice after eating. The garden is big enough and we can always use the adjoining forest. It’s fun.”

“But I thought you only hunt during the full moon?”

“That’s right. But we need to shift more than once per month”, Keith explains, eyes following the shifters on the ground. 

Silence falls upon them, both watching the spectacle, but Lance’s mind is still troubled with what Allura told him an hour ago. Usually he’s not shy with talking about anything but with Keith it’s another issue. He’s not the normal human man–and their first meeting was far from normal–but to be honest, Lance is afraid that he’ll push the shifter away with asking something personal. 

The man next to him turns his head, ruby orbs now fixated on him; Lance gulps as he feels a shiver run down his spine from the look he gets. It’s clearly desire. And Lance wants nothing more than to push his face closer and capture the other’s lips in a hungry kiss, but he can’t. Therefore when Keith leans closer, he turns his gaze back downwards to avoid the kiss. “Allura mentioned your upcoming birthday”, he finally spills. Like removing a band-aid–fast, without much thinking.

He doesn’t dare to look at Keith’s face, who seems surprised, judging by the silence. “Oh.”

It’s all he gets for an answer, which makes him whip his head around in the end. “Did you plan to tell me about the possibility of you leaving this town or am I not important enough to know? Because I’m not a shifter?” Lance knows he’s too loud; the shifters downstairs probably listening in on their conversation, but at this point he doesn’t care anymore. He just wants to know if Keith likes him the same way he does. Period!

Keith on the other hand seems a little taken aback by his outburst. His eyes are wide open, eyebrows disappearing in the fringe of his hair–but he hasn’t taken a single step away. Their faces are still less than a foot away from another, which seems suddenly too intimate for a situation like this. He plans to step away, but Keith’s hand grabs his underarm resting on the parapet and Lance stops.

“Why would you think that?” Realizing that this question relates to all questions, he continues, “I haven’t told you about my birthday yet because I wanted to talk about _us_ first. Because I want to have a relationship with you, but I was afraid that I would push you away, if I told you that I don’t plan on leaving Allura’s Pack because they’re my family and because I care about you. We’ve known each other for less than a month, that isn’t much time for humans, but shifters just need a moment to realize if the person is worth pursuing.” Then he pauses and lets the words sink in.

And Lance doesn’t need much time to comprehend his words, the meaning behind those words. Jesus, it sounded like a confession. His skin starts to prickle; suddenly feeling too hot, too big in his own body–he needs a minute to cool down. It’s too much at once. 

The possibility of Keith leaving, then staying because of him, because he has feelings for him–a shifter having feelings for a human! Lance is only human but Keith likes him, so much that he’s gonna stay in this town. 

Lance has accepted the invitation without any serious hope for a more serious relationship between them, but now he’s offered the chance for more and the decision lies in his hands. Geez, what a pressure. 

“Lance, are you okay?”, Keith’s concerned voices disrupts his mental break down. It must be visible on his face because the next moment Keith is grabbing his upper arms and leads him to a couch at the corner. 

Once his ass hits the cushion the cold touch on his warm body is a much needed shock to finally snap him out of his thoughts. His eyes gaze up into Keith’s red orbs, who’s standing in front of him, watching for any sign of a break down. A shudder wrecks his body as the cold seeps into his pants, making him grab for Keith’s hand and pull him down at his side. At this moment Keith is the only provider for heat. Sitting side by side with their arms and legs touching is not enough for him at this moment, therefore he takes it upon himself to drag one of Keith’s arms around his shoulders and snuggle up to his exposed side. The blush is prominent on his cheeks and when he takes a peek up, he finds the same color on Keith’s cheeks–but he finally gets warmer and to hell with feeling embarrassed. 

“I’m glad that you plan to stay”, he finally admits and feels Keith turn his head to look at him, but Lance has his face pressed against his neck to be able to talk properly. “It makes me happy. I like your family and I like this town. I like my job and how I can make those people living here smile with my chocolates. I’m glad that I moved back here.” He feels warm fingers at his chin, tilting his head up. His eyes fall closed as he feels firm lips descending upon his own. 

Yeah, he _is_ happy with his decision to move back to his hometown. The bubbly feeling in his stomach spreads warmth up to his chest as the kiss lingers. They’re communicating without words; feelings transferred into this kiss. 

 

After some time passed, which they spent with cuddling and kissing, they sit comfortably on the couch, curled up under a blanket–more needed by Lance than Keith. Thanks to his higher body temperature the latter doesn’t feel cold. Lance is curled up at his side–back against the side of his chest–with Keith’s arm draped over Lance’s upper body. The brunet’s head is tucked under Keith’s chin, tilted up to gaze at the night sky. He can feel Keith’s head resting against his own, cheek touching brown locks. “I want to know about your culture?”, Lance breaks the silence that has settled between them, only disrupted by the noises coming from downstairs. 

“Sure. Ask away.”

Lance licks his lips, contemplating what he wants to know first. “Why do you choose a Pack with twenty-five? Why not earlier?”

The hand resting on his stomach twitches whereupon Lance grabs it with his opposite hand, intertwining their fingers together. “Usually shifters take a few years to travel around after turning twenty-one. They visit other Packs, get to know other shifters. They have time until they turn twenty-five. Then they have to choose if they want to live with another Pack or stay with their original one.”

“But you haven’t traveled…”

“I’ve already traveled as a child, together with my dad.” Lance doesn’t miss the suppressed feelings in his voice and if he turns around, he will surely see a pained expression on the other man’s face. But he doesn’t turn around, just squeezes his hand with his and waits if he wants to talk about his pain or not. He won’t push him for an answer. 

Surprisingly Keith carries on, “My mother died after giving birth to me and my dad fled from his Pack, taking me with him. I don’t remember much from the time before we found shelter with Allura’s Pack, but we lived with some nice Packs for a few months. Every Pack welcomed us, but my dad feared that his old Pack would find us, therefore we never stayed for too long. He never told me why they were so focused on finding us. I was four years old when I met Shiro and Allura. Shiro’s father and mine knew each other, which was the reason my dad finally decided to stay with the Altean Pack. Back then Allura’s father was the Alpha–the leader.”

Lance doesn’t dare to ask him what happened to their respective parents, why they were not present–he can make assumptions.

The raven’s chest rises as he takes a deep breath. “Anyways, Shiro and Allura are like siblings to me and I would never abandon them”, he finishes and seems to settle back down, body relaxing.

The brunet tries to lighten up the mood, “Lucky me that you are such a caring family. Sometimes I’m glad to be away from mine.” It’s a lie, obviously. In reality he misses his family each day, even if his siblings got on his nerves more than once per day. But he loves them unconditionally. That’s why he understands Keith’s decision to stay with his family. 

A smile tugs at the corner of his lips. Talking like that under the beautiful night sky makes it feel like they got a step further in their relationship. There’s still a little uneasiness when he thinks back to the night in the forest, but now that he knows the man behind the beast, it’s just a little itch in the back of his mind, which will probably fade in the months to come–spend together with Keith.

* One week later *

The earth is still a little moist as he jogs between the trees, over stumps–the air feels wonderful on the bare skin of his arms and legs. It’s still early, the sun has barely risen, but Keith has this pent up energy in his body which he needs to let out with running. 

In an hour he’s meeting up with Lance for their ‘shopping date’–Lance’s idea to call it that. That’s the reason for his early morning run. A smile tugs at the corner of his lips; he's looking forward to it. Maybe they can spend some time on _Red_ later, when it will be warmer.

Jumping over a root, he tears through the bushes and comes to a stop in their garden. Spotting Coran, Pixie and Jessi already seated at the table eating breakfast, he walks into their direction.

Coran motions to his dirty running shoes and Keith removes them on the threshold with an eye-roll. With his feet bare, he finally steps through the opened door. “Morning”, he greets them, attempting to snatch a little sausage from the plate, but his hand is immediately slapped by Coran's. 

“Not with your dirty fingers, young man”, he chides. 

Another eye-roll. “Fine.”

“Uncle Keith, over here.” Jessi has impaled a sausage on his fork, offering it to the older man. 

“Thanks, buddy”, Keith grins and takes it in one bite. The boy beams up at him. He’s just so adorable.

“Allura called. They are arriving in forty minutes. And they bring guests”, Coran announces, drinking from his coffee. “She wants you to meet them.”

Keith’s eyes shift to the clock on the wall. “If they’re on time. I’ve got plans.” Coran nods, which he takes as consent to leave. He still has to take a shower before meeting up Lance.

 

Allura and Shiro do in fact arrive on time. Keith has finished eating breakfast and is helping Coran with cleaning up the table. Samir and Cohen usually sleep in on weekends. 

On his way from the kitchen to the sunroom, the front door opens. Allura is the first to enter, following Shiro and the guests. Keith is already pulled into a hug, before he’s even able to greet her. As usual. “Hey, ‘Lura”, he smiles into her hair.

“Hi, sweetie, how have you been? Everything alright with Lance?”, she greets back, hand running lovingly over the back of his still damp hair.

Keith nods. “Everything’s peachy. How was the trip?”

“Wonderful. We have brought guests.” She turns around and motions for said guests to step closer. 

It’s a pair, man and woman. She has strawberry blonde hair, which is pulled into two ponytails at her sides and dark brown eyes–glinting purple in the light. A real beauty. The man beside her has the same build as Keith himself; hair even brighter than that of the woman, nearly white, with chocolate brown eyes–his lips are pulled into a confident smile. Both are shifters. 

“Keith, meet Nyma and Rolo. We happened to meet during hunting.”

Keith shakes both of their hands, polite smile on display. “Nice to meet you. Welcome in our home.”

“Thanks, it looks really nice”, Nyma addresses him first. “Seems like a good place to live.” Her eyes travel through the hall. “I would really like a tour.”

“Sure. I will show you your room where you can store away your luggage”, Allura suggests, looking over her shoulder to Shiro, who got their luggage.

“I’ll wait here”, Rolo speaks up, hands in the pockets of his pants. Both him and Keith watch the other three as they ascend the stairs. When they turn around the corner, the man turns back around to look at Keith. “So, I saw a red Ducati in the garage. Looks pretty neat. Is it yours?”

Keith nods, then checks the clock. Fifteen minutes left. He should really go if he wants to be on time. 

“Wanna take me on a ride? I never got to ride on a motorcycle.” 

Keith contemplates his options. Allura and Shiro would want him to be nice to their guests. They don’t often have the chance to welcome new shifters into their home. But he has a date with Lance, who will probably be mad if he cancels it. 

Rolo must have taken his silence for a rejection, because the smile on his lips is replaced with a sad frown. “Sorry, I didn’t want to be rude. You’ve probably better things to do than entertain your guest.” Then he shrugs his shoulders and attempts to turn around. “I guess, I will take the offer for a tour…”

Dang, Keith can already imagine Shiro’s reproachful look with him disappointing Allura. Ugh, guilt trip ahead. Stifling an exasperated sigh, he pulls out his phone and types in a message to Lance. He’ll make it up to him later. “Let’s go. The weather’s good for a ride.” As he starts to head for the front door, he doesn’t notice the smug grin on Rolo’s face.

*

Lance is in a bad mood, like _really_ bad mood; as bad as it can get. It’s the first time he’s driving with _Blue_ after weeks, but he cannot enjoy their special time together, because the guy he’s in a relationship with ditched their shopping date. Like ten freaking minutes before the arranged time. With a _message–_ he was not even man enough to call him!

Thus Lance has all the right to be pissed. Thank you.

Tapping on the steering wheel, he contemplates how he can show Keith how utterly pissed he’s with him. “Sorry beautiful, I really love you but right now I’m only capable of feeling anger towards my… _boyfriend_!”

He _knows_ that _Blue_ cannot talk back, but he imagines her to coo lovingly at him, wholeheartedly agreeing with him about the issue with the stupid mullet-head.

The window is pulled down, soft breeze wafting inside; music playing soft in the background. It’s a good day–or would have been, if Keith had been with him.

The traffic light ahead turns yellow, and Lance knows that _Blue_ is an old lady, so he won’t manage to cross the street in time, opting to step on the brake instead. The car slows down, but Lance gets distracted by the noise of an oncoming motorcycle from the opposite lane. It crosses the street as the light turns red. His eyes are fixated on the red exterior, on the rider clad in black and red leather and lastly on the second man clinging to the former’s back. He _knows_ that bike and that man–the rider, not the pillion passenger. 

So apparently Keith had the nerve to cancel their date ten minutes before the arranged time, with a text message consisting of ‘Sorry, I can’t accompany you.’ And finally Lance knows the reason why. NOW, he’s pissed! 

He’s silently fuming; lips thin, teeth pressed together as he drives back into town. Parking in his spot, he kills the engine and takes a few seconds to calm himself. He promised Hunk to eat lunch with him at his parents’ restaurant, therefore he needs to be calm.

As he grabs his phone, he’s surprised to suddenly see the caller ID from his older brother Juan. Scrunching his brows together, wondering why he would call him during his work time, he accepts the call. “Hola, dear big brother. What do I owe the pleasure of your call?”, he answers playfully. 

“Lance. Lucy got into an accident.” That are the first words he hears from his older brother after a month.  

Every color drains from his face, mouth going slack as the words sink in. Luciana is his second oldest sister, who looked after him as a child; whose bed he climbed into after having a nightmare; who was the first in his family to encourage him to pursue his dream; who visited him the most during his stay in Brussels; who was currently a thriving lawyer in family law. Lance feels the tremble in his lips, hoping that the next words are clear to understand, “How is she?”

The knot in his chest is expanding as he waits for an answer. “She’s under surgery, they can’t tell if she’ll make it out alive.” It burns–his chest is on fire and it freaking hurts! “Breathe, Lance”, Juan commands through the phone and Lance complies. The burning subsides as he takes big gulps of air. The ache stays.

“I’m coming over. Text me the details”, he manages to say. “See you later.”

“I’ll get you from the airport. Be save, little brother.”

 

It takes thirty minutes to book a flight, put the groceries away and call Shay to inform her about his absence for the next several days. She’ll manage, she reassures him and Lance is thankful for this caring woman as his business partner. Hunk offered to take him to the airport and Lance is also thankful to have him as his best bud. 

He got lucky to get a flight in less than two hours after booking, thus he’s currently waiting in line for the boarding. Between his constant worry about his sister, he remembers that he has yet to inform Keith about his absence. He probably won’t be able to attend his birthday ceremony on Thursday. He should at least write a message. It’s too late to call anyways. 

The memory of Keith on _Red_ with another man burns through his mind and he’s really glad for the excuse of their take off to not call. 

The message is brief and hopefully conveys every emotion he’s felt today: hurt, betrayal, anger, sadness, helplessness, fear.

When the plane takes off, and his phone is silent in the pocket of his pants, Lance buries the tiny bit of guilt under that grand pile of sadness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ay, cliffhanger, dun, dun, duun. Poor Lance (｡•́︿•̀｡)  
> Leave it to those troublemakers to mess everything up ┐(´д｀)┌  
> Thanks for reading ♡


	6. miscommunication pt 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Birthday to me (ﾉ´▽｀)ﾉ♪ (at least in Germany it's 08/30)
> 
> Thanks for all the comments, kudos et cetera. I love to hear from you （*´▽｀*）♡
> 
> On another note: ay, more angst, gosh…
> 
> Check out my profile if you wonder about updates.

* Six days later * 

Today is the most important day in a shifter’s life, today he turns 25. It is the day he chooses his Pack–but all he can think of is Lance. How he hasn’t responded to any of his messages or how every attempted call got him straight to voicemail. 

It’s been nearly a week after his sudden departure, but for Keith it seems like a month. He misses his bright smiles; his sweet voice; his warm skin, which looks even more beautiful when it’s blushing; not to forget his delicious smell, which he cannot get enough of. The memory of this exceptional young man is haunting him in his dreams. 

‘I won’t be there for your party. Sorry. Spend the day with the ones you care about. L’

When he first read the message, he was barely able to hold in his lunch that afternoon. Since then contacting  him has been a futile attempt. He ended up asking Pidge and to his relief she informed him about the reason for Lance’s departure. His sister. 

Knowing that didn’t make him feel better; the words of the message still haunt him–cold, distant. Boyfriends wouldn’t use such wording. Which means that they aren’t in a relationship. And that revelation has him in a bad mood ever since.  
So here he is, at the day of his 25th birthday, lying on his bed, moping. 

A knock from his door snaps him out of his self-pity. “Keith, can I come in?” It’s Shiro. Keith just grunts, which the older man takes as an affirmation to enter. The raven watches him taking a seat at the edge of his bed, lines on his face pulled in worry. For a moment neither man speaks–Shiro is surely trying to make out Keith’s mood between all these feelings he emits. “I take it, Lance still hasn’t responded to your messages?”

Keith shakes his head, face burying further into his pillow. He knows that Shiro is just here to support him, but he doesn’t want company right now. At least not his. 

He feels Shiro’s hand hover over his shoulder, wanting to comfort, but wary of the possibility of Keith’s rejection. They know each other for nearly twenty years, enough time for Shiro to learn about Keith’s moods–when to approach him and offer comfort or to stay away and leave him to solve it out himself. Today is one of those occasions when Keith is too stubborn to appreciate Shiro being an older brother for him. 

“I don’t know what exactly happened between you two for Lance to ignore you to such an extent, but today is the most important day in your life and the decision you’re going to make is life-changing. Therefore you need to get your emotions together, push them back for tomorrow to deal with, and focus on your day. Maybe Lance will get in touch with you during the day.” 

Keith doesn’t count on it, not after nearly a week without him contacting him back. But he doesn’t voice it, not when Shiro is this worried. “Alright. I’ll take a run in the woods to clear my head”, he decides. Holing up in his room won’t make the day go by faster. 

“I will prepare some lunch for later”, Shiro offers with a smile. “You will be hungry after your work-out.”

Keith nods as a thanks and lets Shiro ruffle his hair in fondness, before he leaves his room. Taking a deep breath, he eventually stands up and gets ready for his run. 

 

Thirty minutes into the running he’s joined by two other shifters, Rolo and Nyma. The difference, they are in their human form, while Keith is currently running through the woods as a panther. It’s easier for him right now. As a panther he doesn’t need to think, he can just focus on his instincts, on his senses. He’s still not hungry for food, but it’s fun to chase after rabbits he comes across. It takes his mind off Lance. At least for a while his heart won’t ache from the agony.

The other two seem content to just trail after him, never going far, but still giving him space. They can sense his mood.

Keith runs until he’s tired, legs aching and stops at a clearing where he left his clothes under a tree. He shifts back and pulls on jeans and a shirt. He didn’t bother to bring shoes in the first place because of the mud clinging to both hands and feet. Sadly dirt doesn’t magically vanish after a shifting. 

“You don’t seem happy on your big day”, Nyma’s voice cuts through his thoughts and Keith finally turns to acknowledge their presence. 

He shrugs. “Honestly I’m not in the mood for the celebration tonight”, he explains truthfully. Because why should he lie? It’s not like he cares what these two think about him. He’s pretty sure that they won’t join their Pack. 

“You plannin’ to join Allura’s Pack?”, Rolo questions, earning him an incredulous look from the raven. 

“Obviously”, he declares, confused why he would even be asked that question. 

Both shifters share a look, which doesn’t seem to be of a positive nature, according to their expressions. “We have to tell you something. Technically it’s not at us to tell you but apparently Allura doesn’t plan to do it and we think that you should know about this before you make a decision you’ll probably regret.” Nyma’s usual coy smile is replaced by a serious frown.

Keith gets a foreboding feeling in his gut. Somehow he knows that he won’t like the following words, “What are you talking about?”

Another shared look. Rolo takes over, “We traveled around a lot for the last year. And we came across the Galran Pack, lead by Zarkon.” At the mention of that name Keith bristles, muscles going rigid, teeth bared in a silent snarl. “Coran and Allura share some parts of the same scent, because they are from the same blood. When we met you, we recognized your scent. It matches with Zarkon’s.” 

Keith’s stomach drops, like he’s sitting in a rollercoaster and they’re flying a looping. “That can’t be true”, he voices his horrendous thought. 

“Why would we need to make something up like this? Ask _her_ if you don’t believe us”, Rolo throws back. 

“Personally I would take the chance to get to know my father.” Leaning against Rolo, Nyma huffs, her eyes glinting with sadness. There seems to be more but Keith doesn’t care about her story.

What’s important now is to find out if they’re telling the truth. If so, he doesn’t know how he’ll feel towards Allura after such a revelation. “Don’t follow me”, he growls out, before he turns around to run back to the house. His home, of his soon-to-be Pack. That’s what he should feel, but right now all he feels is ineffable fear and sadness. 

He finds Allura in the kitchen, preparing stuff for dinner. She’s alone. She turns around after he enters, emanating a happy aura, which vanishes immediately after noticing his expression. She knows about his current state. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” Wiping her hands on a towel, she attempts to come over, but Keith shakes his head vehemently.

“Stop!”, he barks, which she does, surprise clearly written on her face, eyes wide open in shock. “Tell me the truth. Is _Zarkon_ my father?” He doesn’t like to beat around the bush. Not in this matter. He watches her expression turn from surprised to appalled and settle on guilty. He doesn’t need words for an answer. The hands at his sides ball into fists, shaking from suppressed anger. “Why?”, he presses between clenched teeth. Anger is better than sadness at the moment. 

Allura is a nervous wreck; her eyes wander over the room, hands fiddling with each other, teeth running over her bottom lip. He has never seen her like this, guilty, young, not like a parent but a child, which she never really had the chance to be. She always acted like an older sister to him, keeping him safe, watching over him, comforting him. Both her and Shiro had to grow up too fast. 

Keith shakes his head to get rid of the thoughts–he cannot get weak at this moment. He needs to show her that she wronged him with keeping this important detail about his origin to herself. 

“I thought that it would be better for you, if you believed Sung-won to be your father. You already lost your mother after she gave birth to you and losing your father was something I wouldn’t want for you to experience. Sung-won was a good man and a really good father. I didn’t want to alter your image of him. He loved you with all his being.”

“How did you know? Did he tell you to keep it a secret from me?”

She shakes her head. “My father took me once to a meeting with Zarkon, not long after you two joined my father’s Pack. I noticed the similarity in your scents and asked my father about that. He told me the truth. About the reason of your fleeing.” This time she does move closer, reaching for his hands, but he steps away, dodges her attempt at a comforting touch. The hurt that flashes in her eyes makes his heart sting, but he manages to ignore it.

“Your parents loved each other, but Zarkon wanted your mother. He _raped_ her. She and Sung-won ran away from their Pack. He just wanted to keep you safe from that _monster_. _I_ wanted to keep you safe. Can’t you see that?”, her voice takes on a desperate note, blue eyes shining with unshed tears. She’s going to cry. The last time he saw her cry was after their own fleeing. 

The urge to gather her in his arms, to hug her, to tell her that he still loves her dearly as a sister is really strong right now, but he can’t let this issue slide. She’s done him wrong and she needs to know that, needs to realize how she made him feel with keeping the truth from him!

“He might be a monster, but you still had no right to keep that from me! Did you even plan to tell me at some point or did you want me to live with a lie my whole life?” He gets no verbal answer, but the pained look in her eyes is answer enough. An ugly mix of betrayal and doubts coil together in the pit of his stomach; he wants to puke. Instead he turns around and heads for the exit. He needs to get out now, or he’ll say something he’ll regret later. 

“Wait, Keith!”, Allura wails behind him, voice now laced with crying. She could use her Alpha voice to command him to stay, to hear her out, to _forgive_ her, but she doesn’t–she’d never do that to the ones she loves. That weakness gives him the chance to go.

At the other side of the door Shiro waits; expression pained–he heard everything, feels what Allura feels. But he doesn’t move to stop Keith on his way out. 

Grabbing his boots and helmet, he exits the house through the front door. The keys for _Red_ are in his helmet. Pulling everything on, he climbs on _Red_ and starts the engine. Nobody stops him when he speeds off. 

Allura has someone to share her feelings with. He’s got no one. 

The second his bike leaves the border of town he speeds up. He just needs to be as far away from home as possible. From that lie. Created by his father–not related by blood. The memories of his dad from his childhood. The moments he holds so close in his heart, which he swore he would never forget–all _lies_.

 

He doesn’t know how long he drove until he takes a stop at the side of the road. Pulling off his helmet, he takes a few deep breaths, before he sits down a few feet away under a group of trees. His heart is still beating frantically in his chest, muscles still rigid from the anger burning through his veins. A fire within. Threatening to consume his thoughts, his feeling for his Pack. For Allura and Shiro, who doubtlessly knows about her lie. Mates don’t keep secrets from one another. Shiro could have told him, but he didn’t. For the same reason that Allura didn’t. He lied too.

Fingernails dig into the insides of his palms, adorning marble-like skin with red crescents. The thoughts running through his head still make him ill.   

His real father is Zarkon, Alpha of the Galran Pack, which has killed nearly the whole Altean Pack. He’s responsible for the death of Allura’s parents, of Shiro’s and lastly of Sung-won–his adoptive father. He vividly remembers the last moment with his father. How he told him that he was always loved by him and his mother. That they would always be by his side, in his heart. 

He remembers the time after Allura, Shiro and him ran away from the attack. How much he cried, how often he needed to be held by Shiro. How Shiro and Allura slept with him in a bed, curled around him, all three of them in need for solace. How brave Allura was, only being three years older than Keith, but managing to keep them safe from the Galran Pack.

Even through all the despair and fear he felt with the loss of his last family member, both gave him hope for a better future. And he promised himself that he would never abandon them, because _they_ are his family. Not related by blood but connected through love. 

That last thought makes his anger disappear, turning it into sadness. Zarkon may be his real father but Sung-won was more a father than this killer could ever be for him. He’s glad that Sung-won saved him from a life within the Galran Pack. Even if he lied about the reason of their escape. If not for him he’d never met Shiro and Allura and would have never had the chance to be a part of this wonderful family he has now. 

And he would have never met Lance. This beautiful, kind, sweet, heartwarming man, who has stolen Keith’s heart the moment he has lain eyes on him in the night of the hunt nearly a month ago. 

A few raindrops hit his face and Keith finally stands up and gets on his bike again.

 

The windows are dark when he arrives at Lance’s shop. The rain became heavier, leaving Keith drenched from head to toe in seconds. But Keith has to know if Lance is back before he goes back home. He needs to make sure the man is safe. Even if he has no clue why Lance won’t talk to him anymore. The rain makes the climb over the facade of the house a little risky but Keith makes it to the other side without injuring himself. When he starts the descent he notices the window of the second floor is opened just a tiny bit to let fresh air inside and takes the opportunity to get inside. When his boots hit the floor they make a squishing sound, which resounds through the apparently desolated apartment. At first.

A moment later the lights are turned on and Keith needs to squint his eyes to make out Lance, baseball bat raised in his hands like he plans to beat him up with it. It takes a few seconds for the brunet to realize it’s Keith and not some murderer; his face still stays wary after lowering the bat. “What are you doing here?” 

Keith’s heart aches at the foreign tone in his voice and the cold expression on his face. But he won’t show it. “Nice to see you too”, he replies sarcastically. The wind brushes behind him, bringing cold air and raindrops inside. He moves to close the window. When he turns back, he catches Lance grimacing before he leaves the room. 

He comes back seconds later with towels and a washbowl in his hands. Keith cocks an eyebrow in question as the brunet places everything down in front of him. “If you plan to stay, you have to take the clothes off. You’re dripping wet, stupid mullet.”

Keith is a little taken aback by his words, but doesn’t complain as he starts to peel his wet clothes off. It takes a few seconds for the brunet to say something again as he watches him undress. Over the distance of a few feet he hears Lance’s fluttering heartbeat. He doesn’t dare look up from his task in fear the man will bolt. 

When his torso is bare, hot wet skin exposed to the lingering chilling air from outside, goosebumps arise. As his hands reach for the button of his jeans, he hears Lance’s breath hitch in his throat and finally gives in and looks up to notice a rosy flush adorning tanned cheeks. It pretty much makes his chest swell in pride. He waits for the blue orbs to travel up his body and lock gazes with him, only then he proceeds with unbuttoning his jeans. 

The material is soaked through therefore he has to apply pressure to get the pants over his damp legs–which basically makes this act less graceful than he planned. Seconds later he stuffs the pants into the bowl, leaving him in just his tight wine red boxers–which are, by the way, soaked too.

Keith knows his body well; knows he’s good looking, fit, with clearly toned abs and yeah, he has a nice shaped dick–he usually doesn’t brag but seeing what his state of undress does to the man in front of him, boosts his ego. He can almost taste Lance’s arousal on his tongue. 

Fighting to keep the smug grin off his face, he hooks his fingers into the waistband of his boxers, eyes never leaving the brunet, but the moment he yanks the last bit of fabric down his hips, Lance finally snaps out of his trance and turns around, trying to mask the yelp with a cough. Keith’s grin falters, disappointment clear on his face, as he dumps the boxers into the bowl. Huffing to himself, he grabs a towel to wipe the wetness from his hair and skin. 

In the meantime Lance tries to get his frantically beating heart under control. “Uh, you... you can take a shower if you want”, he stumbles over the first words and seems in need of taking a deep breath. “I’ll get you dry clothes in the meantime.” Peeking over his shoulder to check if Keith is somewhat decent again–as much as possible with a towel around his waist–he gestures to the bowl. “I’ll put them into the machine.” 

Keith grabs the bowl and steps forward to hand it over. He notices Lance’s eyes traveling down his chest, teeth nibbling on his lower lip in a nervous habit. Before he knows it, his thumb is on the bottom lip, softly grazing over the abused flesh, to stop him from biting.

He can basically feel Lance’s face heating up, just inches from his fingers. In the end Lance still bolts from the room.

 

After taking a shower and slipping into some sweatpants, a little too long; and some shirt, a little too narrow on his chest, Keith is sitting on a lounge chair opposite Lance, who’s sitting on a couch in his living room corner. The heavy rain pounding against the window glass is the only sound filling the silence.

Lance has been staring into the mug of tea in his hands since his return from the kitchen corner. The tan fingers fiddle with the letters on the mug as Keith regards the man, a mug with tea in his own hands. He’s waiting for Lance to say something, anything, but the brunet seems determined to not be the first to start. 

It’s 8pm and Lance probably has work tomorrow and is exhausted from his trip, so Keith takes mercy and breaks the silence. “How’s your sister doing?” He knows from Pidge about the circumstances of Lance’s sudden departure a few days ago.

The brunet keeps his gaze on the beverage as he speaks, voice small, exhausted, “She’s still in the hospital. She has multiple broken bones and still needs more surgeries. She’s currently on painkillers and basically sleeps all day. My parents take turns to watch over her every day. My siblings try to visit her too. I was told to go back to work. My younger brother keeps in touch with me.” A sigh escapes his lips, hand rubbing over his face, ruffling his brown locks. Keith stifles the urge to cradle him in his arms.

Shifters have an overpowering urge to protect their mates, to console them. And though Lance is far from being his mate, he still wants to make him feel better. He busies his mind with taking a gulp of his tea. “Do they know the culprit?”

Another sigh and Lance visibly shrinks, shoulders slumping, legs pressing further against his chest. “Some truck driver crashed into her car. It was an accident. It could have happened to anybody. She was just unlucky.” The time he’s finished with explaining, his shoulders start to tremble and Keith has finally enough with all that bullshit with keeping his distance. 

He steps over the small coffee table between them, places both mugs on it, and takes a seat next to Lance, who looks up at him, eyes round, glassy with unshed tears–looking so utterly dejected. Keith sneaks an arm around his shoulders to pull his body against his side. He can feel his posture stiffen and fears the other will pull back but then Lance leans into him, hands grabbing fistfuls of his shirt as he presses his face into the spot between his shoulder and neck. 

Only seconds later Lance starts to cry. Hot tears run over his face and onto Keith’s exposed skin; body pushing against him like he wants to hide from the world. Keith places another arm around his waist, nose touching brown locks. He keeps silent, just cradling the man against him, providing some of his warmth, letting him know that he’s here to protect him. Keith knows that he's risking driving the man away, but he cannot sit still; just seeing Lance looking miserable makes him act on his instincts–the need to protect this most wonderful man he has ever laid his eyes on. 

The urge to find that man, who’s causing Lance and his family so much pain, and tear him apart–slowly, limp by limp–is so prominent in his mind, that he has to put his hands on his legs, fingers curling in the fabric of the pants, shaking from rage. He fears he will hurt the man in front of him when he touches him.

The breaths of Lance’s sobs fan over the hem of his shirt, barely grazing the exposed flesh–distracting him from the dark thoughts. Lance feels cold against his chest, therefore Keith takes a deep breath to calm his boiling blood, and drapes his arms back around the other body, carefully pushing him closer to give him more of his body heat. He feels the tremors from the other man, notices the wetness on his neck, and for the first time he feels utterly useless. He really doesn’t like this feeling.

 

After the tears are dried, emotions spilled, Lance pulls himself off him and Keith lets him go. He catches the dark colored cheeks as the brunet moves to the other side of the couch to get some distance between them. Keith doesn’t like it, already missing the feel of the other’s body against his, but stays silent–it’s not the time for that. Not yet.

So he waits for the other man to break the silence this time. And after some time Lance speaks up, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to get emotional. It’s just… I hate feeling useless. It’s frustrating. And man, I just can’t deal with all this drama right now.“ His hands are in his hair, rubbing over his scalp, disheveling his hair, frustration clearly written on his face. His eyes dart over the room, intend on not meeting Keith’s gaze.

Keith has to interrupt his rambling, “Wait, what drama?” Does he mean that he doesn’t want to see Keith anymore? Is this whole shifter issue too much for him? Is he still afraid of him? He doesn’t voice these questions, even if they’re overbearing in his mind. When Lance still won’t look him in the eyes, he leans forward, overcoming the imaginary line keeping them apart, and puts his hand on one of Lance’s. It successfully makes him look up. Not for the first time the deep blue pools swirling with emotions take him in. Brown brows drawn together, lips pulled down into a frown; Keith is entirely confused. He withdraws his hand again, chest heavy with dread. Maybe Lance really doesn’t want to see him anymore.

“I saw you on Saturday on Red”, one black eyebrow raises up, “with another guy”, Lance finishes.

The second eyebrow joins the other as Keith finally realizes what he meant with drama. “Wait, are you maybe... jealous?”, he blurts out. Because if the tiny possibility exists then he and Lance can…

“N-no!”, Lance sputters, cheeks red, eyes wide as he scrambles for words. “I mean...”, for a second he looks up at him, as if he’s searching for something in Keith’s face, but the next second his hands in his lap seem to be more fascinating. He’s nervous; his teeth are abusing his bottom lip again. “I just thought, that you and me... that we–”, his brows scrunch up together, “apparently I misunderstood.“ And then he stands up, like he cannot stay this close to him anymore.

Fuck, Keith has to say something because Lance is jealous. Because he saw him with Rolo and misunderstood. He apparently thinks that Keith played him. “Lance, wait!”, he catches his wrist with his hand, which nearly makes the other loose his balance, “It’s not what you think. I can explain.” He meets wary, tired eyes. Seems like he heard these lines before. And Keith can understand him, really, but he won’t leave it at that. So he tugs gently but determinedly at the wrist until Lance gives in and sits back down. 

His hands fall back into his lap but his gaze stays on the brunet’s face. “You know that Shiro and Allura are together”, a nod of confirmation, “for both of them it’s their first relationship. And final.” A raised eyebrow. “In our teenage years we fool around, like any human in that age, but when we find the one we want to be with for the rest of our lives, we pursue them. Those people are called mates. A relationship between mates is serious, no fooling around”, he explains in a steady voice. He may sound determined, but inside he’s panicking. Fuck, he doesn’t know what he’ll do when Lance rejects him. “And it’s not the man you saw me with, who I want as my mate.” 

He can see realization dawn on Lance’s face and hear his heartbeat accelerate. Similar to his own. The brunet shuffles with his hands in his lap. “But I'm human”, he starts.

“Don't care”, Keith counters.

A small exhales leaves his lips. “I'm a man. Don’t you want to reproduce–“, he catches himself as he seems to remember Samir and Cohen.

“Doesn't matter to me. I’m gay. I’ve always been only attracted to men”, he explains.

“Oh.” Lance blinks, fingers rubbing idly against another. “But what if you get tired of me not being able to shift. I can’t hunt with you”, his words sound desperate, like he needs Keith to see that he’d leave him one day, because he isn’t like him. Not a beast, but a mere human. A kind, precious human with a heart of gold.

“Lance, look at me”, Keith orders and waits until the man obliges; blue eyes meeting his violet ones. “Do you like me? Because I like you. And I really want to be with you, and no one else. I don’t care that you aren’t like me. I like you the way you are, _how_ you are. I have my Pack to do shifter things. But when I’m with you, I feel warm and at home, where I belong.” He brushes a stray strand of hair behind his ear. “But if you don’t feel like that, if you are afraid of me... then I won’t bother you anymore. I will leave you alone.”

“No!” Keith winces at his sudden outburst. “Ah, sorry”, Lance apologizes sheepishly, remembering his good sense of hearing. “It’s just, I’m not afraid of you”, he sees Keith draw his eyebrows together in an act of doubt, “not anymore. What I want to say is, that I don’t want you to leave me alone. I... I like you, too. I like to spend time with you. With your fam–Pack. That’s why I felt so miserable when I saw you with another man. I thought that you had enough of me. That you realized that I’m just human. I guess, I just don’t want to get hurt anymore.” When he’s finished, he seems defeated, tired and Keith just wants to gather him in his arms again and let him rest while he watches over him.

And for the second time tonight, he does what his instincts tell him. Lance looks confused when he suddenly stands up without so much as a word and Keith has to admit that he likes the small yelp which escapes Lances lips when he scoops him up in his arms bridal style. It’s cute and the weight in his arms feels right.

“W-what are you doing?”, the brunet asks, arms scrambling to get a grip on his shirt and neck in fear of falling. But Keith won’t let him go. Never.

On his way to the bedroom he explains. “It’s late. You are tired. I’m gonna take you to bed.” His eyes catch the rising blush on the tan cheeks. A grin tugs at his lips. “And you are gonna _sleep_.” He doesn’t mention his desire to cuddle with him in his bed.

When they arrive in the bedroom he gently places the man on his bed. He takes note that Lance’s hold on him doesn’t disappear at first. When he turns to close the curtains of the window, he’s not surprised when he feels fingers wrap around his wrist to stop him. He hoped that the man would tell him to stay. And when he looks over his shoulder to catch the hopeful sparkle in the blue eyes and the nervous chewing on his bottom lip, he doesn’t need words. He gladly obliges.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ay, fluff to make up for the Klangst (ﾉ´∀｀)ﾉ ♡
> 
> Important note: I’m gonna take a break for the next two months. I’m working full time and the last months have been very stressful in my department. Therefore I need some time to relax and not focus on writing. Don’t expect an update before November. Sorry but English is not my first language, therefore I need more time to come up with the story. 
> 
> See you after season 4 *jumps onto the Klance train to depart* (*´∀`*)


	7. celebration

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all your lovely comments, I like reading them a lot and appreciate every single one of them ^_^  
> And sorry for the delay, I didn’t mean for this chapter to come out so late. So I hope the little lovey-dovey scene between our favorite boys makes up a little for it.  
> Enjoy (ﾉ´∀｀)ﾉ ♡

The last time Lance has lain in a bed with another person, and just slept in it, has been a long time ago. Before he went to Brussels. Since his return from Europe he has slept alone and didn’t really realize how much he missed sharing his bed with someone else. He likes to share body heat, to cuddle with another body. But since the breakup with his former boyfriend in Brussels he didn’t have the urge to seek the warmth of another person. With the opening of his shop he didn’t have much time to think about a new relationship. That was before he met Keith.

Now there’s the possibility for a future together. And he’s tending to not miss this opportunity.

When he opens his eyes he’s greeted with the sight of Keith sleeping, hair disheveled, the lines of his face relaxed. He looks younger. Lance didn’t realize before how serious Keith looks during the day. His eyes travel over the smooth creamy skin, over thin pale lips, down to his neck, noting the prominent lines of his collarbone, which peek over the loose hem of the shirt. He really wants to reach out and touch the smooth looking skin, wants to feel the warmth emanating from his body–even from the half foot distance between them he can feel how warm Keith’s body is. 

Before he can decide if he wants to put his thoughts into action, he catches Keith stirring and opening his eyes slowly. “Morning.” The voice is rough from sleep, and Lance can’t suppress the shiver running down his spine. Keith furrows his eyebrows and places a hand on his cheek. “Are you cold?”

For a moment Lance enjoys the heat spreading from the hand to his face, revels in the cozy feeling that arises in his chest, and suddenly he has the overwhelming urge to lean forward and press his lips against Keith’s.

The sudden ringing of his phone interrupts the pleasant silence. It’s the ring tone of his alarm clock. As he turns halfway to grab his phone from the nightstand, he momentarily forgot that he’s lying on the far side of the bed, and thus ends up overbalancing. As his fingers wrap around his phone he can basically feel his body sliding over the edge of the mattress and tries to prevent the fall somehow, but his legs are tangled in the sheets and the mattress is too smooth to get a grip on it. He mentally prepares himself for the fall and the pain, but fortunately Keith comes to his rescue. Lance feels his strong arms wrap around his torso and pull him back into the middle. Blue eyes meet the fabric of Keith’s shirt, while his nose is pressed into the firm chest, which is shaking... with _laughter_.

Lance tilts his head back to find the raven stifling his laughter, eyes crinkling, teeth holding his lower lip, the edges pulled up. His cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “Not funny”, he tells him grouchily, half-heartily bumping a fist against his chest. He turns the alarm off with the other.

“Your face was”, the raven confesses, chuckling. His hands on the small of Lance’s back press him closer. “Sorry.” Their lips are inches apart and Lance isn’t sure who moves in first. Keith’s lips feel heavenly against his, but the kiss stays chaste, both of them minding their morning breaths. When they pull apart blue meets violet, matching smiles blooming on their lips. 

 

They spend breakfast together, eating pancakes and fruit salad. When the time for the opening comes Keith trails down after Lance to the shop, where Shay has already let herself in. She gives both of them a warm hug, not a tad surprised to find the shifter with him. After pulling away from Lance, her eyes roam over his face, like she wants to check if Lance is okay. He just smiles at her and tells her what he already told Keith yesterday. Keith patiently stands in the back, silent but never leaving Lance out of sight.

As Shay prepares the coffee machine, Keith helps him put the chocolates onto the displays. All of a sudden Keith’s head snaps up, gaze on the door. Lance follows his line of vision and recognizes the familiar faces of Shiro and Allura at the other side of the windows. He eyes Keith next to him, who seems stressed and wraps his fingers around his hand, squeezing it in a comforting manner. 

“I’ll come back later”, Keith tells him and leans up to give him a short kiss. Lance watches him walk through the door and away with the other two, noticing the worn out look on Allura’s pretty face.

Suddenly he remembers that he forgot Keith’s birthday. Chewing on his bottom lip he goes to the kitchen to start with the cake he planned to make for Keith, but the ringing of his phone interrupts him. When he looks at the caller ID a shaking breath escapes his lips. _Thiago._

*

After arriving at the mansion the three shifters sit down in the sunroom. Both Allura and Shiro have informed their workplaces that they will come in a bit later. Keith has the day off. Normally he’d have spent the time in bed, sleeping off the after effects of getting the Pack’s tattoo.

Keith watches Allura biting her lip, brows drawn together, blue eyes dull from worry and lack of sleep. Guilt forms in the pit of his stomach from knowing he’s part of the reason for her misery. His eyes travel over to Shiro, who’s looking similarly exhausted–mates usually share emotions to some extent. He wonders if it’s possible to have such a bond with Lance. He doesn’t know any shifter-human pairs, so he can’t ask.

“Did you sleep well?” Allura breaks the silence. “Is everything alright between you and Lance?” It’s no surprise that she wants to know that first. She always puts the members of her Pack before herself; Shiro’s the same. It’s what makes them good leaders.

Keith doesn’t want to worry her any more, so he tries to explain his feelings. “I told him about my feelings. He feels the same. I’m sorry for worrying both of you but I needed time to sort out my feelings. I’m not mad at you. To some extend I understand your decision, but I’d have preferred to hear the truth from you, not some other shifters by accident. But knowing that Zarkon is my real father won’t change my decision. I want to stay as a member of your Pack. I want to join the Altean Pack.” 

The moment these words left his lips Allura virtually leaps out of her seat and bodily throws herself at him. It’s awkward with him sitting–she’s half-kneeling, half-standing, arms around his neck, hands in his hair, face pressed into the side of his own. He can feel the wetness travel from her skin to his–it’s the second time in a few hours that someone is crying in his arms. Looking over her shoulder, he catches Shiro smiling fondly at them, eyes glinting with happiness as he watches them. Keith returns the smile and starts to pat her back.

“I’m so happy, dear”, she says after pulling back, fingers wiping off the wetness from her face. Then Shiro gets up and places a hand on her waist. “We all are happy to have you with us. And on Saturday we are going to celebrate. Lance is welcomed to join”, she adds.

A smile blooms on his face. “Thanks. I'm looking forward to it.”

“I hope we are not interrupting something”, a voice rings through the room. The eyes of the three shifters travel to the threshold, where Rolo and Nyma have appeared. They are the last people Keith wants to see at this moment.

“Honestly, yes, you are”, Allura tells them. It seems she harbors the same animosity towards them as Keith.

“Ouch”, Rolo says, hands in the pockets of his jeans, “We just wanted to check on you, Keith. You seemed really upset yesterday. I would be too, after such a revelation.” His tone seems casual, but somehow Keith can hear the jab towards Allura.

“Me too. I wouldn’t forgive someone who has lied to me my whole life to just keep me for themselves. Such betrayal. Such selfishness”, Nyma adds, hands on her hips, eyes fixing Allura accusingly.

Keith’s not surprised at the growl which escapes Shiro's lips. Normally Shiro’s mature, some simple words can’t shake his calm behavior. But both of them are accusing Allura in their home. They might not know how close they are to getting kicked out. And Keith just wants them to leave already. They’ve done enough damage. No way in hell are they staying with their Pack.

Before he can voice his thoughts with not so kind words, a familiar voice echoes through the entrance hall into the room. “Keith?” It belongs to Lance.

Ignoring the looks he gets from Rolo and Nyma, he rushes past them into the hall, where he spots the brunet standing in the doorway. He immediately catches the red tinge around his irises. The worry overwrites the anger. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is it your sister?” he asks, as he comes to a stop in front of him. He isn’t sure if it’s appropriate to hug him, so he chooses to grab one hand with his.

Lance squeezes his hand in return, lips pulled into a sad smile. “My brother called. He told me that they won’t pass sentence on the driver of the truck. There isn’t enough evidence for his culpability and Luciana still isn’t in shape for giving a testimony. It’s so unfair.” His voice wavers, breath shaky, he’s probably trying to hold back his tears.

Keith balls his free hand into a fist, rage boiling in his gut. He really wants to tear this fucking asshole apart for hurting Lance’s family. An idea strikes him. Maybe Shiro can get his hands on this fucker. “Let’s sit down and talk to Shiro. Maybe he can help”, he offers, carefully pulling him after him with the help of their clasped hands.

Lance just gives him a confused look. When they arrive at the threshold Keith comes to a halt, as he’s pulled back by Lance suddenly stopping. He turns to ask the brunet and is momentarily taken aback by the look on his face: dread. He feels the grip on his hand tighten, fingers trembling. He closes the distance until he’s standing directly in front of him. “What's wrong?”, he asks softly.

“It’s _her_ ”, Lance mumbles, eyes focused on the two behind Keith. 

And suddenly Keith gives in, lets his rage overflow all rational thoughts. He spins around, lips pulled back into a snarl, violet eyes burning like devouring flames, and pounces on Rolo. His fist collides with the man’s face, who’s too surprised to dodge. A crunch resounds and Keith can basically feel the bones crack under his knuckles. But he’s far from finished. 

A hiss at his side catches his attention; he looks up from his position on the floor–he’s sitting on Rolo’s chest–and spots a bobcat in front of him. Its jaws are open, canines exposed and Keith barely manages to jump back before it can bite his head off. The urge to shift into his own beast form is strong, but a tiny voice in the back of his mind reminds him that Lance is watching. And if he shifts now, Lance will be afraid of him again. So instead he draws back to stand protectively in front of the brunet, eyes not leaving the two shifters.

Nyma in her beast form is standing next to the lying form of Rolo, whose face is a mess of crushed bone and blood, so much blood is pouring out of his broken nose. Hopefully he will never be able to use it properly again. The presence of Lance behind him is the only thing holding him back from killing both of them.

All of a sudden a mighty roar cuts through the room, taking everyone’s attention. Shiro has shifted into his beast form–a white lion–and he looks ready to kill. Allura is standing at his side, still in her human form, but she looks not less furious. A shiver runs down his spine at the display of power and rage. He’s really glad that her anger is not directed at him. “Get out and don’t come back. If you so much as take a step into my territory again, I will kill you two!”, she demands, voice laced with the force of an Alpha. Her words hold so much power that Rolo and Nyma’s bodies start to tremble under her rage. The man scrambles to his feet, nearly slipping over the mess of blood on the floor and bolts from the room, Nyma hot on his heels.

Keith angles his body between Lance and them as they rush past him. He feels Lance’s hand cling to his shirt, when Shiro goes after them to make sure they really disappear. As soon as the white lion has left the room, Keith spins around and grabs Lance at his waist to pull him against his chest. He can feel his legs shaking against his. His hands squeeze softly, with his face pressed against the side of the brunet’s; his lips are inches away from his left ear. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it was them”, he apologizes with gentle words. It’s hard with the rage still boiling in his blood, but the weight of Lance against him makes it a little easier to focus on remaining human.

“Oh, Lance are you okay? I’m sorry for this display”, Allura apologizes as soon as she sees the condition of Lance. “Sit down, I'm going to get you something to drink”, she says as she heads for the kitchen.

Meanwhile Keith maneuvers them over to the chairs but has trouble to make the man sit down on one of them, because Lance can’t seem to let go. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he scoops the man up in his arms without so much as a word and heads for the living room, where he can sit on a couch with Lance at his side.

Lance must be still shaken up because he doesn’t really complain–like he had last night–and just clings onto him. When Keith finally sits down on the soft cushion of the couch, Lance pulls his face away from its place at the side of his neck and seems to comprehend the situation he’s in–namely sitting on Keith’s lap. Like a child. Heat rises in his cheeks as he slides off his legs until he’s sitting by his side. Keith lets out a tiny chuckle at this cute display and gets a slap on his arm in return. But Lance is smiling too, so the little sting is worth it.

When Allura returns to them she offers Lance a glass of water and moves to sit in front of them. Her hands in her lap fiddle with each other, blue eyes darting nervously between the two men. She seems distressed by the situation. The raven suspects that she’s afraid she pushed Lance back again, which in return will hurt Keith. It’s her way of thinking. Keith gives her an encouraging smile, offering a hand to the man beside him, which is taken without a second of hesitation. And Allura’s shoulders sack down in relief at this display of love and trust.

“They are gone”, Shiro’s voice disrupts the silence as he enters the room. He comes to a halt at the side of the couch Allura’s sitting on. Automatically their hands seek each other’s. His eyes are on Lance though. “We have to apologize. It’s our fault for inviting them to town. We didn’t recognize their smells. They must have covered them with some heavy perfume when they attacked you.”

Lance’s eyes dart from Allura to Shiro, he doesn’t look mad, just tired. “It’s fine. As long as they don’t come back.”

“If they dare to, I will personally rip their throats out”, Keith declares with a determined look. He feels Lance wince beside him. Immediately he squeezes his hand in apology, which earns him a half-smile from the brunet.

“Apart from all that drama, why did you come in the first place, Lance?”, Allura asks as if remembering that they just left from Lance’s shop an hour ago.

And Keith remembers the idea he had after Lance told him about his sister. He eyes Lance. “Can I tell them? I might have an idea to help.” The brunet raises an eyebrow in question but nods hesitantly. So Keith tells them the story about Lance’s sister and about the possibility to help. And surprisingly both Allura and Shiro agree to his plan.

* One day later *

At 7pm Lance is on his way over to the mansion. He was invited to the ceremony of Keith’s official admittance to the Pack. He’s a little nervous but mostly curious–how many normal humans get the opportunity to witness something like that. But as Keith’s boyfriend he gets to see it and the fond feeling pulsing in his chest is welcomed between all that dread and anxiousness from the last days. First his sister and then meeting that woman again who dropped him in the forrest. To think that both her and the guy slept in the same house as Keith… it’s not a good feeling. And they still don’t know _why_ they did that in the first place. And will probably never know. Both shifters are banned from town and Allura reassured him that they won’t lay a hand on him ever again, because then she’ll personally kill them. He doesn’t need to be a shifter to sense how serious she takes that matter. Allure can be a little… frightening. 

When he parks _Blue_ in front of the garage, Keith is already waiting for him at the front door. Originally he planned to make a big chocolate cake for him as a birthday present, but due to his absence he hadn’t had any time to bake something this big. So he chose small cupcakes with chocolate ganache instead, which are also nice looking. After all he’s got so many things on his mind that he can’t really focus on making everything beautiful. 

Carefully balancing the box with the pastries in one arm, he approaches the man waiting for him. Usually Keith is pretty good at hiding his emotions behind a stoic mask but today Lance can see how nervous he is, it’s written in the tired lines on his face. But it’s surely not because of the ceremony tonight, about his decision to join Allura’s Pack. It’s because of what he came to know about his real dad through the mouths of those bastards, which he was told about yesterday after their departure. 

Well, at least Lance knows that Mr-tough-face can’t be tough all the time. Stopping right in front of him, he offers him a big smile, “Hola, mullet.”

The glint in these ruby eyes and the twitch on his lips make his heart flutter after that sad attempt to get the man to light up. “Hey.” 

Lance didn’t hope for another greeting at the moment, but he clearly isn’t opposed to Keith leaning forward and capturing his lips in a sweet, lingering kiss. It makes the butterflies in his stomach flutter. Damn this mullet-head and his swift moves.

 

A huge bonfire is burning in the garden, lighting up the environment and the sunroom, warming up the fresh spring air. Lance is greeted by the other members, swept into hugs by Allura and Cohen–as usual. In foresight they left the cupcakes in the fridge because they would surely melt from the intensity of the fire. There’s also an open fireplace where the body of an animal is being grilled over, according to it’s shape it seems to be a pig. And it smells delicious.

“I’m so glad you came, man”, Cohen says as he leans into his side, arm wrapping around his neck. 

Lance grins back at him. “You’re just after the cupcakes I made.”

At that the shifter pulls away and brushes a hand over the spot over his heart in mock hurt. And adds a scandalized gasp for good measure. “How could you say something like that? I’m hurt, man.”

Before Lance is able to retort something, Samir approaches them. “Allura threw me out of the kitchen”, he declares. 

Lance hears Keith snort out a laugh next to him at the basic confirmation of his assumption. He himself tries and fails to cover his smile with a put-on frown. “You were saying?”

Cohen pouts in a guilty fashion and throws his body against his mate’s who automatically wraps an arm around his waist. “S’not fair. Everyone’s making fun of me, hun.”

Keith chuckles. “Serves you right for sending Samir out to snag dessert. You do remember that Lance made them for _me,_ right?” Lance blinks as he feels Keith sneak an arm around his waist to pull him against his side. To top it off he places his chin on Lance’s shoulder, which brings their faces close to one another, cheeks basically touching as he adds smugly, “And guess what, I’m gonna eat them _all_ _by myself_.” Lance on his end feels his cheeks heat up at this open show of intimacy.

“No fair, Kei! I wanna have some cupcakes, too”, Cohen whines and steps forward in an attempt to grab Lance, but the raven shifter angles the brunet’s body out of reach.

“ _Ah ah_ , all of that belongs to _me_ ”, he retorts and to Lance’s utter bafflement he turns his head to _nip_ the skin on the side of Lance’s neck. 

Three shifters watch in amusement as the brunet turns into a blushing, sputtering mess.

*

When it’s time for the official part, everyone present finally sees Keith’s nervousness; the raven man is standing beside Allura, with the other members of the Pack surrounding them, while Lance and Jessi are standing a few feet away. 

The look on Allura’s face, illuminated by the glow of the bonfire, is serious but Keith can also make out the affection for him shining in her blue eyes. Her tone is booming and everyone’s attention is on her as she speaks, “My dear sister and brothers, tonight we will welcome a new brother in our Pack, our family.” Then she turns her eyes on him, “Keith Kogane, will you join my Pack and accept the other members as your new family?”

Keith gulps down the lump in his throat before he recites the lines he practiced beforehand, “Yes, I will join your Pack and accept all of you as my new family.“

“Do you pledge loyalty to me, your Alpha?”

“I pledge loyalty to my Pack and accept you as my Alpha.”

“Then I shall welcome you into my Pack.”

After her final words are uttered, it’s time for the Alpha to draw the Pack tattoo on his shoulder. It’s an upside down _A_ and stands for the old Altean Pack which was lead by her father. Coran is the only one out of their Pack that wears the original sign. It is to honor the ones they lost.

Back in the sunroom they placed the essential utensils onto the table were Keith and Allura are headed to now. It’s only the two of them. 

“It will sting a little. And you are forbidden to shift for the next two days. Your skin needs time to heal and accept my blood,” she explains after they sat down, as she cleans the spot on his shoulder where he will be inked. The particular about these Pack tattoos, as explained to him by Allura and Shiro beforehand, is that there’s a bit of blood of the respective Alpha mixed into the ink. Which in turn gives Allura the ability to detect the members of her Pack but also give her the power to make them follow her orders.

Keith knows that giving Allura power over him isn’t something he’ll regret. He knows her, knows that she won’t abuse her power–never has and never will. She’s a good leader of their Pack and he’s proud to be part of it and to have her as an older sister figure. 

While he waits for her to finish the tattoo, he watches Lance interact with the others in the garden, a small smile adorning his lips when he makes out him and Cohen talking over Jessi’s shoulders, who’s once again playing with his portable game console. They’re probably trying to help him.

“He’s good with kids. Jessi already sees him as an older brother”, Allura comments during her work with the ink. 

“He’s got a younger brother, Jessi probably reminds Lance of him.”

“Shiro already made some calls. He’s going to meet someone with connections in the court”, she casually mentions as she wipes a cloth over the skin she punctured. “I am pretty confident we will get the culprit.” Before she proceeds, she lifts her head to meet his gaze. “What will you do?”

“It’s up to Lance. But if he decides to follow our rules, I’ll make that man suffer every second”, he answers her with a sinister smile, ruby eyes burning intensely with hatred. 

 

Later that night Keith is lying in bed, waiting for Lance to join him. Luckily he managed to convince the brunet to stay overnight–they had both drunken some fair amount of alcohol, leaving both of them not able to drive anymore. And Keith didn’t feel like walking through the night back to town. Neither would he have let Lance go back on his own. Despite knowing about Rolo and Nyma being the culprits, they still don’t know their reason for dropping an innocent human in the woods. That’s a fact Keith still regrets days later, but he can’t do much about it anymore. 

“Thanks for lending me something to wear. I didn’t really think that I’d drink that much”, Lance speaks as he reenters the room after getting ready in the bathroom. With only the light of the nightstand illuminating the room, Keith watches from his side of the bed as the brunet approaches it, looking a little flustered, which is probably not only caused by the alcohol. Between his natural scent and the aroma of his body-wash Keith detects a whiff of excitement and arousal. When Lance sits down at the edge of the mattress with his back towards Keith, the shifter lets his gaze roam over his figure.

He’s wearing one of his shirts and shorts and seeing him wearing his clothes, with his smell clinging onto the fabric and mixing with Lance’s own scent, is satisfying something deep down inside him–the more primal side. The urge to pull the man down into his arms, kiss him senseless, ravage him, is so utterly strong that it threatens to push his rational side to the back. Only the knowledge that such an action is way too early in their relationship is keeping him from following what his instincts are telling him. God, he so desperately wants to touch Lance, taste him, mark his sensually looking skin. And smelling the subliminal arousal wafting across from the brunet is not helping his case.

_Ugh, shut up_ , he thinks, pulls the cover over his head and turns his back on the brunet. He just needs a few minutes to get his mind back on a non-only-adults-level track. 

What he doesn’t count on is Lance lifting the cover and crawling under the blanket to plant his body right against Keith’s back in an almost bashful manner. And his aroused scent is back again, practically stoking the fire of desire in Keith’s gut. Which is _bad!_

He has to bite down onto his lip hard and burry his fingers in the sheets as he feels Lance’s hands against the fabric of his shirt, carefully pressing and moving. When he takes a breath he detects an oncoming insecurity in Lance’s scent. Probably due to Keith’s lack of response. And boy, does he want to respond, but he’s too afraid to overstep the line.

“Keith?“, comes Lance’s sudden whispered word, tone hesitant. He can picture the expression on his face, insecurity. He doesn’t want Lance to think he’s being rejected, not after telling him that he wants him as his mate.

So he at least has to explain his lack of response. “Lance… I fear I can’t hold back once I give in. It’s really hard to resist right now.” There, it’s out and hopefully the brunet will back away and give him the chance to cool down. 

There’s a moment of silence as Lance seems to process his words and their innuendo and Keith dares to relax, but a second after letting his guard down Lance nuzzles his face into the nape of his neck. The shifter’s eyes go wide as he feels a mark being sucked into his skin. He ponders if maybe Lance got him wrong.

When a hand sneaks around his waist to press onto the spot just above his pelvis, he finally snaps into motion. Grabbing the wrist of Lance’s hand, he turns around so fast that he receives a startled look from the brunet. “Didn’t you get what I meant?”, he demands to know, fingers a strong hold on the bronze skin. He can see both their hands shaking from repressing his urge to push forward and kiss this man senseless. _Stop, stop_ , he chants in his mind, desperately clinging onto the last shreds of rationality.

“Yes, I now what you meant”, Lance answers. He may be a little drunk but Keith is sure that he’s perfectly capable of making rational decisions. Then he pushes his face closer until their mouths are just a hair’s breadth apart. “But I don’t mind.” And with that simple sentence Keith’s last hold on his better judgement is ripped apart. 

Their mouths meet in a heated kiss, lips parting to make way for their tongues. Keith feels a hand in his hair, another gliding under the fabric of his shirt to press against his abs, while his own hands are busy themselves, one is searching for a nipple and upon finding it he rubs over the covered bud to coax out a wanton moan from Lance. Meanwhile his other hand sneaks around the slim waist to grab a sinful looking asscheek–covered by _his_ shorts–to push their pelvises flush together, which makes it possible for them to rock their hard-ons together. Feeling Lance’s hardness rub against his own painful one does funny things to his nerve system, which is practically flooded by their mingling scents of arousals. Damn, it feels so good to have Lance against him, have his scent around him and his own cling onto Lance. But he stills wants more, oh so much more. A thirst barely able to be controlled. And Lance being the only one able to satisfy it. 

“K-Keith, more”, Lance pants against his mouth as they part to suck air back into their lungs. The raven takes the opportunity to plant his lips against the side of Lance’s neck to suck the skin between his lips, intend on leaving a mark of his own on the brunet. 

Meanwhile his hand dives under the waistband of the shorts to grab at pure warm flesh, the velvet-like skin of the globe feeling pleasant in his hands. The roll of Lance’s pelvis is especially urgent this time and Keith smirks between sucking more flesh.

The hand in his hair tugs at his locks, eliciting a growl from his chest, which in turn lets a shiver rock through Lance’s body. “ _Ah_ , wanna feel you”, the brunet moans before Keith leans back up to slash their mouths back together, pushes his tongue between eagerly parted lips to roam around Lance’s cavern. He tweaks the bud one more time before his hand descends towards Lance’s stiff dick to brush his fingers over the outline. It earns him another moan from the brunet. 

The fingers on his stomach dive down to fumble at the hem of his own shorts, eager to feel his dick. When Lance’s fingertips brush over the heated flesh of his cockhead, Keith moans into their kiss, trying to push his hips upwards for more skin contact. 

“Too tight,” Lance whines against his lips, as he tries to wiggle more of his hand into Keith’s shorts but fails, which ultimately leads to Keith practically ripping the annoying fabric off his hips. And damn does it feel great when Lance finally wraps his hand around his aching flesh! 

Keith’s teeth nip at the supple flesh of Lance’s lower lip as the brunet starts to move his hand over the length of Keith’s dick. It’s a bit too dry for his liking thus he turns halfway to rummage in the nightstand behind him for some lube. The bottle is snatched from his hand before he even fully turned back around. Keith huffs at his eager display but chokes on his spit as he notices that Lance had used the time to remove his own shorts. Ruby eyes train on the nicely shaped and dark skinned cock, which is also hard as fuck and leaking precum. 

Lance seems to notice his stare because he stops his hand inches away from touching Keith’s again. “Like what you see?”, he asks cockily, blue eyes shining in the dimly lit room. 

The shifter licks over his lips before he answers honestly, “Yes.” And dives right back to kiss the brunet, who seems a tad surprised at his honesty. 

The hand around his dick is back, this time slicked with lube which makes the sensation of skin rubbing over skin oh so better. His hips start to snap into the touch, in time with the movement of Lance’s hand. A moan slips between their lips and Keith dives down to press his mouth against the soft skin of Lance’s throat–licking, nipping, sucking hungrily–as he digs his fingers into Lance’s hip to push his pelvis closer until Lance’s dick bumps against the hand on Keith’s. It takes all his willpower to stop the movement of his hips and peel the hand off his heated flesh. He manages to rub his hand over Lance’s palm to coat his own skin with the remaining lube, before he gets a hold of both their dicks and starts to move up and down. 

The moan leaving Lance’s lips and the heavy bob of his Adam’s apple are only encouraging Keith in his ministration as he suckles more firmly on the dark skin, hips snapping up, which in turn makes Lance moves his own hips.

He feels Lance wiggle his other hand in-between their bodies to wrap it around his own, increasing the pressure on their dicks, which slide deliciously against another as they fuck into their palms. And the noises, _God_ , a mix of moans, groans and the squelching sounds of their movements thanks to the lube. 

“K-keith”, Lance breathes out, as his free hand fumbles into dark locks to yank his head back up. Blue meets violet before they move forward for another open-mouthed kiss, tongues lapping another, overall filthy as fuck. And _so good_.

With Lance’s scent, taste and body touching his own Keith feels drunk, senses overflowing, which feels fan-fucking-tastic; he cannot get enough, wants _more._ He wants _Lance_ , _needs_ him, won’t ever leave him, _can’t_. And then he comes, _hard._

A growl rumbles through his chest and over his lips as he spills into their palms and over their abdomens. He feels Lance shudder against him as he follows him shortly after his own release. He doesn’t cease the movement of his hand, accompanies them both through their orgasm, milking both of them dry and only then does he stop and slumps, body going slack while his chest heaves with deep breaths. 

Lance is in a similar state, but the look on his face–utterly spent, but happy, blissful–makes his chest throb with pride and fondness. It’s a welcomed feeling.

When Lance’s eyes catch him starring, he offers a half-grin, accompanied by a “wow” and Keith thinks, that he wants more of that. More of Lance.

That is something he can look forward to for the future. 

* Two months later *

It’s Tuesday, the evening of a full moon, and Lance finds himself on the way to the meeting spot at the beginning of the forest after Keith has called him and asked him to come. He’s not sure why exactly he should come, but he feels a little agitated at the possible prospect of seeing everyone–except Jessi, who’s not able to shift yet–in their animal form. Up until now he has only really seen Keith and Shiro in their respective forms face to face. And both times he had felt not entirely comfortable in his skin which shouldn’t be a surprise for the initial fear of big cats is something every human harbors. It’s hard to come by but Lance promised himself that he’d at least try to suppress the fear in front of his boyfriend.

Yep, boyfriend. He’s finally confident enough to tag their relationship with a term.

When he had told Hunk and Pidge about it, he had received a warm hug from his buddy and a high-five from the girl, who had also admitted that she had had a bet with Kala going on about how long it would take for him and Keith to get together. Pidge had won and expressed how glad she was because if she had lost, she’d have had to wear a skirt for an entire day. Which would have been devastating for Pidge. Secretly Lance had been a little disappointed about knowing that fact; Pidge wearing girly clothes would have been definitely entertaining to witness. 

As he drives closer to the destination, his thoughts drift back to his sister Lucy. She’s still in the hospital, still hasn’t regained consciousness after her surgeries and the culprit still won’t be sentenced, even after his parents tried to enter an objection. But with Kala still in a coma, there’s not much hope left. 

It weights heavily on his mind and makes focussing on work harder, having Keith by his side is soothing to some extent. But Lance supposes that there won’t be a time when he’s not thinking about the predicament of his older sister. 

 

A few minutes later he arrives at the destination, stomach tumbling from the anxiety of what he’ll come across. What surprises him the most is to see Keith standing together with Shiro, Allura and Matt at the side of a police truck. The shifters are still in their human forms, which eases the knot in his stomach a little bit, making it easier to breathe. As soon as he shuts the door behind himself Keith is walking over in quick strides until he’s right in front of him. 

They whisper a short greeting, followed by a kiss, before Keith gets a serious look on his face, all business-like. It has Lance worrying. “There’s a reason why I asked you to come.” He stops, seemingly to search for the right words to explain. “Remember how we told Shiro about the case of your sister?” Lance nods in affirmation and Keith continues hesitantly, “Shiro got connections to other shifters and some are working in the law department. He met with them and told them about the case.” Another pause in which Lance holds his breath, “And he managed to convince them to be given the chance to judge the culprit our way.” When his speech is finished, Lance feels at a loss for words. He’s not sure what his boyfriend is trying to tell him, because it’s such a faraway possibility to even be thought of. 

But Keith wouldn’t make something like that up. He wouldn’t lie. “What do you mean with ‘your way’”, he finally asks. 

Keith takes one of his hands with his and laces their fingers together before he answers, “He’ll get the chance to retain his life. If he makes it to the lake, we’ll spare his life. But when one of us gets to him beforehand, it’s upon us to make him pay.” Lance’s breath catches in his throat as he remembers his first meeting with Keith and what it exactly looks like when they pass sentence on the culprits. The fingers between his hand squeeze a little more. “But we decided that you should be the one to decide if we do it our way or the normal way. We won’t pressure you into anything. And you won’t be the one to kill him, that will be me. Use me as the device to wield retaliation.”

It takes a moment for the words to settle in and when they do Lance feels his legs tremble and in fear of collapsing he stumbles over to the hood of _Blue_ to lean heavily against it. His eyes travel over to the police truck a few feet away, in which there must be the man who caused his sister misery, who nearly killed her, might still succeed. He wrings his now free hands, the feelings battling in his chest, making it hard to keep a cool head. Sadness with rage; anxiety with vengeance–but also guilt, for being the judge over that man’s life. 

Not some unknown man at the court will decide over the fate of that man but Lance himself. And he already knows what he’ll choose, hence the guilt. Because he’s supposed to be a sincere man, his parents raised him to be _good,_ but choosing death for the man isn’t something a good man would do.

What about his sister? What would she choose? What will be good for her? His eyes return to lock with Keith’s when he feels warm hands carefully cup his cheeks, touch pleasant against the harsh cold wind nipping on his skin. The shifter says nothing, just watches him, waiting for Lance’s decision. 

He thinks back to the time when Lucy used to read for him back when they were children and had moved away from this town. Oh how he had missed his friends, his abuela the first months. So Lucy would come to him when he was sad and they would read together or watch cartoons or just walk through the park to get to know the new city. And Lance loves her for spending time with him when his other siblings were busy with their own school life or with taking care of Thiago.

And he knows that his sister would choose the right thing–with her being a lawyer–and that would be letting their judicial system do the work. 

Despite that he’ll choose what _he_ deems right. 

So he places his hands over Keith’s on his cheeks and says, “Okay. Do it your way.”

 

The ordeal is kept short. Shiro explains the rules to the man sitting in the truck. Lance watches, standing next to Keith, hand clinging onto the only source of warmth at the moment. 

When Shiro drags the man out by his arm, Lance feels his blood run cold. He’s maybe in his forties; tall, tattooed and looks normal, forgettable. But when the gaze of the man sweeps over them and catches Lance’s eyes, a shiver runs up his spine. 

Keith can shift into a beast but his eyes can also hold a warmth in their depths, which is entirely missing in this man’s eyes. They are blue like his own but feel like icicles, unforgiving and not an ounce of shame or guilt can be found in them. He supposes that this man never regretted something in his life. 

Beside him Keith’s posture has gone stiff, like a cat bristling its fur in threat. 

A tug from Shiro and the man looks back to him and then to the snow leopard stalking closer from between the trees. It’s Allura and she looks stunning, albeit deadly, with her glimmering blue eyes never leaving their soon to be prey. Lance knows with determination that Keith won’t let this man escape from death.

 

The minutes tick by as Lance waits for Keith to return. He told him to wait here. It’s the middle of May but the nights are still cold and Lance, who’s sitting on the hood of _Blue_ , shivers in his thin jacket. He pulls the hood of his jacket over his head and buries his hands in the pockets. His eyes scan the first line of trees; it’s a clear night so the full moon makes it possible for him to see them. But everything after them is a blur of darkness. 

He momentarily thinks back to the night he awoke in the forest–the night he met Keith. The terror he felt that moment when his eyes locked with the burning ones of the beast had followed him into his dreams for quite some time. Luckily he’s overcome his fears–love can truly make someone blind. He snorts at that morbid thought.

Rubbing over his tired eyes, he catches some movement and watches as the shape of a big cat emerges from between the line of trees. He figures it is Keith, because he absolutely can’t tell the beast from the darkness apart. His heart beats faster, teeth nibble on his bottom lip as he waits while the beast moves closer, his movements rolling smoothly through his body. He’s a natural predator and in this form Lance wouldn’t be able to tell him apart from a real black panther. 

When Keith stops in front of the hood and sits back on his haunches, Lance slides down until his legs dangle over the front. He has the beast between his legs now. A shiver runs up his spine as he gazes down into these smoldering violet orbs, which are glinting up into his own blue ones. His teeth let go of his lower lip as he readies himself for the answer to his following question. “Did you catch him?”, his voice is barely a whisper, breath catching in his throat as he watches the beast carefully.

The big head bobs down once, before the jaws open in a feral grin. If Lance squints, he can make out some blood on the white canines, but in regard to his consciousness he refrains from doing so. He prays that the face of that man won’t haunt him in his dreams.

His shoulders slump down, tension leaving his muscles, as he takes a few breaths to get his bearings back together. With his face turned downward he can feel the heat emanating from the beast moving closer. The touch feels warm, gentle; fur soft against his forehead. He’s surprised at first, subconsciousness telling him to back away, but he knows that the beast means no harm. It’s Keith. He just wants to comfort him.

Ignoring the funny smell of breath fanning over him, his hands close around the head in front of him. Fingers carefully brush through the soft fur, touch gentle like he’s handling a cat. A chuckle escapes his lips, as he feels Keith let out a snort–he must be having a similar thought.

Three months ago Lance was alone, and now here he sits with Keith, his boyfriend, who has the ability to shift into a big cat. And he has to admit, that it sounds a little crazy. Yep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, I know what Lance did was morally wrong but I tagged dark themes... so yeah, everyone's got a dark side, even our precious blue paladin (っ- ‸ – ς)
> 
> Anyway, I guess next chapter will be the last…  
> Thanks for reading.


	8. these burning feelings of ours

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again (finally) with the last chapter. Sorry for the massive delay. I blame work, Horizon Zero Dawn and other story ideas;;;
> 
> I don’t know why but in this story I preferred a shyer Lance with dominant Keith during their sexual intercourses. A shy Lance has his perks, especially in combination with a possessive, dominant Keith. I liked writing him ♡
> 
> Fun Fact, out of 16000+ words approximately 9000 are about smut ヽ(｡･ω･｡)ﾉ  
> Enjoy reading _へ__(‾◡◝ )>
> 
>  
> 
> **Additional tags: light dom/sub undertones, rimming, cum swallowing, blow-jobs, hand-jobs, anal sex, fingering, marking, biting, praise kink, possessive behavior, shy!Lance**

* Two months later *

It’s Saturday morning, the start of a beautiful sunny day at the beginning of July and Keith is about to pick up Lance for a day tour to the lake that Allura had bought some time ago a couple of miles away. A few days prior he suggested to Lance that he needed to take a day off, preferably out of town to give himself a break from work. Over the last months Lance has become even more busy with customers filling into his shop to buy his chocolate. And thanks to Pidge who made a website for his shop, people also ordered his creations online. If not for Keith living close by, he wouldn’t be able to see much of his boyfriend between work hours. Hence the suggestion to take a day off. 

Which Lance accepted after a lot of persuasion by both him and Hunk–even Shay told him with a stern voice that he should take a break. And she could be really insistent once she made her mind up for something. She’s a great help for Lance, but all of them think that Lance needs help if he doesn’t want to overwork himself in the long term. 

Arriving at the parking lot, he spots Lance already waiting for him, a backpack fastened on his back. He was busily typing on his phone until Keith stopped by his side, killing the engine and opening the visor of his helmet. “Working again?”, he says as a greeting.

Lance whips his head up, a guilty line on his lips as he slides the device into the pocket of his light jacket, zipping it up so that it wouldn’t get lost during the ride. “Was just checking the comments on my blog. Some people asked for help.” At that answer the raven just shakes his head before he grabs the second helmet from the side of his bike to hand it to the brunet. “Still not spilling where we’re heading to?”, Lance asks as he dons the helmet and climbs onto the bike behind Keith.

“Did you pack your swimming trunks?”, Keith asks instead and feels the bump of Lance’s helmet against his own as the man nods. “Good. Hold on tight.“ As soon as he feels arms encircle his abdomen he starts the engine and they set off. 

 

An hour later they reach their destination. He had to pull over from the main route, driving on some ordinary roads with not much traffic, so that they could enjoy the ride. It was still a little before midday when the sun would shine the most, which made the ride enjoyable, with the airstream pleasant against their bodies. Now they have to stop at a fence, which surrounds the posted property in a wide perimeter. As they climb off and pull off their helmets, Lance looks at him with an eyebrow raised.

Keith throws him smile, fetches the keys and proceeds to open the lock on the entryway in the fence. “Allura bought this area some time ago. We often gather here with befriended Packs during summer. You could call it a safe haven for us. It’s secluded and thanks to the fence there are no intruders. Currently there’s a cottage under construction, hopefully it will be ready until the end of this month”, he explains as he wheels his bike through the opening to park it under a tree. When he looks up after unhitching the saddle bag, he’s confused by the uneasy look on the brunet’s face. Then it clicks. “We’re not camping out here. I know that you are a busy man”, he reassures him and moves to lock the entrance again. Then he grabs Lance’s hand with his free one and drags him towards the center. In the corner of his eye he notices Lance relaxing his shoulders and they walk side by side. 

It’s a fifteen minute walk but when they finally reach the clearing, he hears Lance’s breath hitch as the man stops to gaze at the view of the lake, blue water glistening from the rays of sun reflected on the surface, the noise of the small waterfall the only sound–apart from the chirping of birds–breaking the peacefulness. 

“It’s beautiful”, Lance murmurs at last, blue eyes sparkling, a smile spreading on his lips and Keith feels his chest warming as he rests his own eyes on him, squeezing their intertwined hands. When Lance notices him staring, he turns his head and Keith takes the chance to snatch a kiss. 

After that they move towards the aforementioned cottage located a few feet away between the line of trees. “The interior is not finished but at least we’re able to store some necessary items in here”, he explains as he unlocks the door and steps into the bare house. Various items from work are lying around, the workers are appointed for Monday to resume their work. 

“It looks a little cramped”, Lance mentions as he observes the open room. 

“There won’t be a kitchen. We have a brazier here that works with charcoal and some cooking utensils that work over an open fire. We plan a small bathroom, a fridge for the food and probably a small fireplace for the winter. No real beds, just mattresses. That way they can be stored easier. That will be it.” 

“Sounds nice”, Lance offers him a smile when he accepts the saddle bag for Keith to be able to grab the blanket and thin mattress. 

When they have found a nice spot next to a tree which will provide some shadow, and have made themselves comfortable, Keith moves to strip off his shirt but halts in his movement, head tilted towards the lake, eyes fixed onto the surface. The wind has picked up and carried foreign smells in their direction, which doesn’t belong to this area–Keith has been here often enough to recognize each smell. However these don’t belong here, but they don’t give off a dangerous vibe and he has the nagging feeling that he knows them. From a long time ago. 

Next to him Lance watches him curiously. “Everything alright?”, he asks after a few moments.

It still takes a few more seconds before he finally turns and looks towards his boyfriend. “Yeah”, he answers hesitantly, before flopping down onto the blanket and rummaging in his saddle bag for his phone.

Lance raises an eyebrow. “You don’t wanna take a swim?”

“You can go on ahead. I’ll join you in a few”, he says as he already types out a message to Allura. 

He hears Lance huff and watches out of the corner of his eye how he undresses until he’s in his swimming trunks, which are colored blue. “Is it deep enough for diving?”

“Yep.” Through the fringe of his hair he watches his boyfriend jog towards the water, and upon hearing a small cry as his legs touch the cooler water, he lets out a chuckle. Then he feels his phone vibrate in his hand from an incoming message. It confirms his suspicion that they’re indeed not alone. He’s surprised to find out that his hunch was correct about knowing those scents. Another cry takes his attention away from his phone, but this time he can distinguish the tone, which is one of distress. He shrugs off his clothes and runs towards the water, eyes roaming over the surface in search for the brunet, who’s swimming towards the other end of the lake while being chased by a black... fin. Wait, _what_? 

It takes seconds for him to estimate it faster if he takes the way around on foot. And then he decides he’ll be even faster as a panther and rips off the last piece of clothing to shift into his beast form. He reaches Lance the moment he’s trying to pull himself out of the water. Emphasizing on _trying_. He can’t find something to get a grip on so Keith steps in close and offers his body for support. Lance only needs a second to understand his intention and wraps his arms around his sturdy neck for Keith to pull him out. Luckily he’s strong in his beast form and easily hauls the man out of the water. When Lance is kneeling by his side, chest heaving from catching his breath, he turns his attention towards the shifter in the water. Still only a fin is the visible part of the body. 

Next to him Lance buries a hand in his fur. “It’s a fucking _orca_!”, he manages between gulps of air. And Keith is a tad surprised that he managed to outswim such an animal. “Scared the crap outta me.”

A huff escapes his lips as he slightly leans into the touch, eyes fixed on the spot where the orca is hovering. It still hasn’t moved yet. Keith widens his stance and lets a growl rumble through his chest, a prompt for the other to show himself. Instead footsteps approach from the trees in their backs. They’re careful but Keith is still able to hear them. His body visibly tenses, ears flattening and jaws opening to expose his teeth. 

“Please, we don’t want to fight”, the shifter speaks with a woman’s voice. She has stopped in her tracks. “We meant no harm.” 

Keith flicks his tail and lets out a huff, which the woman takes as a cue to come closer in his line of vision, where he’ll be able to look at both her and the orca in the water. 

“Didn’t seem like it”, Lance comments drily, now finally able to speak properly again. 

“We’re so sorry. She didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Then why did she _chase_ me? I thought she was gonna eat me”, the brunet asks incredulously over the back of Keith’s panther body as he watches the woman round them until she stands at the edge. 

“I just wanted to make sure that you get safely back ashore”, comes a woman’s voice from the water, from the exact same spot where the orca has formerly been. “I am deeply sorry”, she adds. 

Keith hears the brunet huff and press further against his side, probably in search for warmth. He can feel Lance’s body shaking with small tremors. Therefore he cranes his neck to rub his face against Lance’s, while he pushes his body more against his. He knows that he’ll get his fur drenched but that is the smallest evil if he can help his boyfriend get dry. 

An appreciative hum escapes Lance’s lips while he winds his arms around Keith’s neck and rubs back. 

“I don’t want to intrude, but do we know each other? Your smell seems familiar”, the woman in the water speaks up after watching their display of affection for a few seconds. 

Keith stops his cuddle session to return her gaze, blinking and dipping his head once as a nod of confirmation. 

“Let’s go back”, Lance suggests, after mustering both him and the women for a moment, and stands up. Keith watches him to make sure he’s okay before he looks both women in the eyes. 

“We will meet you there”, the woman in the water says. 

Side by side he and Lance walk towards their picnic spot. On their way Lance picks up the swimming trunks. “Thanks for coming to my rescue. And sorry for making such a fuss”, he apologizes sheepishly at which he receives a huff from the panther. “But I have to admit that you looked pretty cool.” 

At that Keith stops to look up at his boyfriend, who winks at him, with his cheeks colored a shade darker. 

He takes it as the cue to shift back into his human form. “Glad you’re not afraid of me anymore”, he admits and takes his trunks from the brunet to put them on. When he looks back up he sees Lance fiddle with the cords of his own trunks. 

“You were still worried about that?”, the brunet mumbles eventually. 

Before he can say anything further, Keith steps into his space and takes his hands into his own, lacing their fingers together. “It’s important for me that you also accept my other side. And I can understand if you still feel uneasy when I’m a panther in your presence–“

“Not anymore”, Lance cuts him off. Their eyes meet and Keith can see determination in the depths of these ocean like eyes. 

“You sure?”, he presses, because Lance shouldn’t lie about something important like that. What he gets as an answer is a kiss. His chest tingles, warmth spreading through it as he responds to the kiss with the same amount of determination.  

Lance pulls his hands out of his and wraps them around his neck, drawing Keith further against him while he places his hands securely around Lance’s waist. They stay like that for awhile longer, kissing and enjoying the touch of their bodies. Lance seems to not feel chilly anymore. 

In the background Keith can make out quiet voices as the other shifters talk and get ready to face them. That issue is what finally makes him stop the kissing. The disappointed look he receives from his boyfriend makes him chuckle. He lifts a hand and wipes a drop of drool off the corner of Lance’s mouth with his thumb. “We still need to talk to them. I promise it won’t take that long.” 

Lance nods. “Have you met them before?”

“Yeah. Back when I was with my father, before we met Allura’s dad, we came across a small Pack of women, who we spent some time with. They are really nice. You’ll like them.” When Lance lifts an eyebrow in a curious manner, Keith adds, “They’re very pretty. You like pretty things.” That comment earns him a slap against his upper arm. 

With a huff the brunet turns and walks towards their spot, leaving Keith behind, who watches him with fond mirth shining in his eyes. 

 

It only takes a few minutes until the women join them. Three of them, all very pretty, with fair skin, long hair–each another color–and delicate features. He’s gay but he still knows when a woman is gorgeous. From chancing a look towards his boyfriend standing next to him, he can see a blush on his cheeks as he must himself has similar thoughts running through his mind. He just rolls his eyes and nudges Lance with his shoulder which snaps the brunet out of his starry eyed gaze. 

“Keith”, the woman with brown curls finally addresses him, the Alpha of this Pack. 

“Luxia, nice to see you again. It’s been a long time”, he says as a proper greeting. 

“Very long indeed. Look at you, you are all grown up, and have finally joined a Pack”, she says after checking out the tattoo on his shoulder. “Allura’s Pack, correct?”

Keith nods. “I joined her Pack two months ago. You met her already?”

Luxia nods but before she can properly answer, the woman with long blond hair steps forward and pulls Keith into a bear hug. Florona has always been one of the touchy kind. “Congratulations, Keithy-boy. I’m so happy that you finally found a family”, she squeals right into his ear which makes him flinch in her embrace. “And you looked so cool in your beast form. A beautiful black panther. It fits you”, she compliments. Over his shoulder her dark grey eyes zero in on Lance, who looks a little uncomfortable. All shifters can make out his scent spike from jealousy. A sly smile forms on her lips as she loosens the hold of the embrace. “Why don’t you introduce us to the pretty boy over there.” 

All eyes turn on Lance who’s blushing hard after being complimented by her. Lance tends to get flirty with good-looking women and men but when someone actually compliments _his_ looks he gets shy like a schoolboy. Which Keith finds endearing. Nonetheless he can’t let it slide that Florona just flirted with his boyfriend. He slides an arm around Lance’s waist and draws him against his side before he starts with the introductions, “Ladies, this is Lance, my boyfriend. Baby, these are members of the Baku Pack. Luxia is the Alpha, and the other two are Florona and Plaxum”, he points to the respective woman, who nod after being introduced. 

At first Lance seems to be a little smitten after being called ‘Baby’–which Keith usually does call him when they’re alone together–but he recovers quickly and puts on a friendly smile. “Nice to meet you.”

“I must admit I’m surprised that you chose a human as your partner”, Luxia states as her eyes roam over Lance’s form in a curious manner. 

“I can see the appeal”, Florona chimes in, which earns her a nudge with an elbow from Plaxum, who’s been silent since stepping up to them a few minutes earlier. 

“What are you doing out here?”, Keith changes the topic as he invites the women to sit down onto the blanket which is luckily big enough to fit the five of them. 

“When I met Allura a few months ago she invited my Pack and we are currently on a road trip and deemed it fit to take the invitation. We intended to visit you tomorrow but Allura invited us to stay overnight and after she told me that she owns this part of land, we wanted to take a dip before coming over. I am deeply sorry for intruding on your date.” As Luxia finishes her explanation she looks really apologetic. 

“It’s fine. You can stay”, Keith tells them, albeit being a little disappointed that his plans for some alone-time are interfered. Which is something he won’t tell them because he still owes them for helping his dad out when they came across them. 

“Don’t worry, Keithy-boy, we’ll only stay for another hour”, Florona reassures. “We won’t keep you two from spending time with each other.” She wiggles her eyebrows for emphasis. To no one’s surprise that earns her yet again a hearty nudge from Plaxum. 

“I didn’t know that shifters could take the forms of other animals”, Lance blurts suddenly, blue eyes shining with curiosity. 

“Technically shifters can take on any animal form they feel comfortable with, but it usually depends on the parental heritage. It is uncommon to choose a mate that isn’t from the same animal race”, Luxia explains. 

“Does that mean that you’re all toothed whales?”

“It is indeed our shared suborder. As you have seen before I am an orca.”

“I’m a dusky dolphin”, Florona reveals. “I can show you my form if you want”, she offers giddily. Keith knows from before that she’s proud of the beauty of her beast form. 

Lance nods eagerly. “Sure. I always wanted to swim with a dolphin.” Then his eyes stray towards Plaxum.

“A spinner dolphin”, she states simply. 

The brunet’s eyes light up even more. “That’s really cool. I’ve seen some videos about them. It’s freakin’ awesome how they jump out of the water and spin. Can you do that too?” When the woman with ash blond hair nods, his lips split into a grin. With his hands clasped together he leans a little forward. “Would you show me? _Please._ ” Big blue eyes sparkle like the surface of the ocean when it’s hit by rays of sun, which is ultimately the undoing of the women. And Keith. How can he not be smitten from such a look on his boyfriend’s face. Even if it’s not directed at him. 

 

The next hour is spend in the water, with Lance and Keith watching Plaxum do her magnificent leaps and marveling at Florona’s beauty on Lance’s part. He even hangs onto Luxia’s fin and lets her tug him through the water. 

When it’s finally time to get out of the water due to their skin getting all wrinkly, they say goodbye for the day because they’ll see them tomorrow again. Lance was invited to eat lunch at Allura’s. 

Finally alone again they settle down onto the blanket, both dried off, and hungry from all the swimming. Their meal consists of sandwiches, onigiri and fruits as dessert. With the sun shining down and heating up the air they move the blanket under another tree and enjoy the comforting shadows. 

“They’re really nice”, Lance says after awhile as the two of them sit propped up against pillows–which they had gotten from the cottage–to watch the water. “I’m glad that you met them as a kid.”

“Me too”, Keith agrees as he thinks back to the day he first came across them on a stormy evening when they were in search for a hotel to stay and instead were invited to stay at their place. His gaze turns fond as he remembers sleeping by his dad’s side on the couch in their living room, relieved to finally getting out of the heavy rain. At that time they hadn’t possessed a car. 

“You miss your dad?”, Lance asks after observing him for a few moments. His fingers seek Keith’s to intertwine them. 

“Yeah”, Keith admits. “Sometimes I wish he’d be able to see what I made out of my life. And what an amazing Alpha Allura turned out to be.” He takes a few gulps from his water bottle to drive away the coarse feeling in his throat. “Do you miss your family?”

“Every day. But we stay in contact. I still miss being by their sides, seeing them.” 

Keith brushes a finger over Lance’s hand in his, but keeps quiet.

“Next month my younger brother Thiago has his birthday party and I promised him to make him his favorite cake. Do you wanna come with me? My whole family will be there…”, Lance asks after awhile of silence had passed between them. “My mamá is giddy to finally meet you and we could visit Lucy in the hospital.” His voice goes quieter the more he talks until he finally completely falls silent. Keith watches his expression morph into somewhat of a sad scowl. “Ah sorry, I’m talking again about her, though I promised myself that I’d not think about that today. Forget I asked–”

Keith snaps a hand forward to grab Lance’s chin and angle it towards him for their eyes to meet. “I’d love to meet your family. _All_ of them”, he emphasizes the last part as he softly cradles his cheek with his fingers. “Lets visit them. I’ll take a vacation from work.”

Lance inhales shakily, still a warm smile spreads on his lips as he nods happily and Keith leans forward to plant his lips against the brunet’s for a lingering sweet kiss.

When they part Lance squeezes their interlaced hands. “Will it be alright if you skip on the hunt for a month? We wouldn’t be back on time.” His brows crease in worry but Keith will have none of that and kisses him again in hope of dispelling this anxious expression on his face. 

“Don’t worry, I’m a grown boy. I can suppress my cravings.” Another kiss. “Though I wouldn’t be opposed to distractions”, he adds flirtingly.

“ _Ooh_ ”, Lance smiles against his lips, “and that means?” His tone is teasing, albeit he surely knows what Keith is implying.

“I have some activities in mind”, he responds as his lips move from Lance’s down to his throat, mouthing butterfly kisses on their descend. 

A hum leaves the brunet’s lips as he cranes his neck to the other side to offer up more of his skin. “We’ll stay over at my parents' home”, he informs.

That doesn’t deter Keith from his ministration. “Not a problem”, he mumbles between kisses.

“The walls are thin”, Lance adds breathily. 

“I can be quiet”, Keith counters as he begins to suck a mark on the junction of Lance’s neck, adding his teeth for a bonus, which earns him a drawn-out moan from his boyfriend.

“We’ll probably share a room with Thiago.” And that is the final string of information that makes Keith stop in his tracks and look up through the fringe of his hair, eyes heated and burning with desire. They gaze at each other for a moment before he leans away and settles back against the pillow on his side of the blanket.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he says, “Too bad.” He tries to act nonchalant but his lips are still drawn into a pout. 

Lance palpates the spot Keith has sucked a mark on as he gazes at him, cheeks tinted a shade of burgundy. Chewing on his lower lip, he averts his gaze towards the lake. “I guess I could ask my mamá to overthink the sleeping arrangements”, he offers and lets out a shriek of surprise when he’s suddenly tackled down by Keith. His blue eyes gaze up perplexedly into violet. 

“I would be deeply grateful”, Keith reveals in a deep voice that rumbles through his chest and licks his lips for emphasis. He secretly revels in the reaction of Lance, blush creeping from his cheeks down towards his chest. Violet eyes trace the bob of Lance’s Adam’s apple from his hovering position above Lance. He lifts his hand to reach for the dark mark he left on bronze skin just now, brushing the tip of his thumb over the spot before pressing down and eliciting a soft keen from the brunet, which goes straight down towards his member, stoking the flames of desire burning in his veins. The beast within growls and encourages him to fully claim Lance right here, make him finally his mate. God, how much he wants that. His fingers twitch on Lance’s skin as he tries to ignore the animalistic urge, body starting to tremble from the exertion. 

His figure is tense like a bow-string above his boyfriend’s, who’s watching him with shining eyes, the depths of them as dark as Keith’s must be right now. Ultimately it’s Lance who makes the crucial decision with looping his arms around Keith’s neck to pull him down towards his awaiting lips, simultaneously opening his legs and planting them against Keith’s sides, beckoning him to settle onto him. Which Keith does after a moment of hesitation, returning the kiss with vigor, pressing his pelvis onto Lance’s, which makes their erections brush against another and both men let out a moan from the sensation. 

Lust is clouding both their minds, but Keith is the only one out of them to really smell it wafting off both him and the brunet. It’s a delicious combination, making his mouth water, as he pushes his tongue between Lance’s pliant lips to lap up his taste. His hips rock into Lance’s, the friction of their clothed arousals rubbing together deliciously maddening. 

The brunet is also eager to feel more of him as he secures his legs around Keith’s waist and rocks up, adjusting the rhythm to match his. Drool trickles down the side of his jaw as he pushes against the tongue in his mouth, coaxing it into a battle, which Keith engages in with vigor. His hands around Keith’s neck clamp into raven locks and pull a little, which coaxes out a heavy moan from the man above him. Lance grins at the reaction but chokes on his spit the next second when Keith finds a nipple and tweaks the bud in retaliation. “Unfair”, he whines meekly and feels Keith huff against his lips. Lance catches his bottom lip with his teeth for a nip and gets a growl in return, and Keith can feel Lance’s dick twitch in his trunks.

He deems it time to take the offending material out of the way. Shifting, he pushes his hips up and wiggles them a little until Lance’s legs let go of him and he’s able to pull his trunks down his legs, sighing softly when his dick is met with the warm air. When he has successfully taken off the fabric he feels Lance’s hips brush up against his as the man lifts them. 

“Mine too”, Lance pleads and Keith tugs his trunks down as much as he’s able to, until Lance is able to kick them off on his own. 

Before they return to the task at hand, Keith rearranges their positions a little, so that he’s now resting on his knees between Lance’s opened legs, thighs pressed against Lance’s buttocks, arms braced at the brunet’s sides. Violet eyes roam over the expanse of dark skin on display only for him, nipples stiff from the air, blue eyes half-lidded, lips swollen and glistening from kissing. He breathes in the scent of Lance’s arousal, fresh and salty like the ocean, enjoying how it gives him a shiver from its intensity. 

“Keith”, Lance whispers and lifts a hand to brush the palm over his abs, mapping the strong contours with his fingers, eyes following the movement. 

A shaky exhale leaves his lips before he lifts a hand of his own towards his lips and starts to coat it with saliva, taking extra care to suck his fingers into his mouth while his eyes never leave Lance’s, who’s intensely watching his ministration by now. A spike in Lance’s scent reveals that the sight he provides is much appreciated. When he deems his hand is wet enough he angles his lower body a little forward and encases both their dicks in his prepared hand. The contact between their heated flesh is wonderful and coaxes out moans from both men and Keith starts to work his hand on them with gusto. 

“God, _Keith_ ”, Lance moans heartily, arching his back a little from the pressure on his aching dick, mewling and gasping when Keith’s free hand moves towards one of his nipples to rub the bud between the tips of his fingers. “Touch me more”, he begs, because in this position only their lower bodies are touching and Lance craves for whole body contact. 

Keith tries to oblige as he lets his free hand roam over the bronze skin of Lance’s chest. “Sorry”, he apologizes between heavy breaths, because he exactly knows how Lance feels right now. 

A frustrated noise escapes the brunet’s lips and the next moment he pushes himself up on his arms into a half-sitting position and swiftly winds his arms around Keith’s neck to pull himself closer. Keith reacts in time and secures his free arm around Lance’s lower back to relieve some of the straining. Seconds later they are back to kissing, while Keith works on their cocks, saliva and precum providing some sort of lubricant. 

Now that Keith has both hands occupied Lance is free to touch him in all the places he yearns for. Keith jerks, movement of his hand stuttering, when his nipples are trapped between Lance’s fingers. His breath shakes as Lance offers a wicked grin. “Payback”, he says smugly, twisting the buds and rubbing over the abused flesh while Keith trembles against him, having stopped his hand in favor of regaining some composure. Lance doesn’t know how much he’s fighting his beast right now, which wants nothing more than to flip him onto his stomach and mount him right on this spot. 

“ _L-lance_ ”, he presses between his gritted teeth, violet eyes stormy as he looks warningly up at his boyfriend, who practically beams from how much a mess he managed to make out of Keith. And he seems to not be done. 

Stunned, Keith watches him move a hand down between them and cub his balls, fondling them while his other hand continues to abuse his nipple. Keith throws his head back, the combination of pleasure and pain nearly making him lose his focus. Breath stuttering in his throat, he feels lips on his exposed skin, nipping and licking under his jaw and down over his throat.

His arm around Lance’s lower body snaps into action as he clutches a globe of Lance’s luscious ass, while his other hand resumes its work on their dicks, but stops immediately when the dry friction makes them both cringe. Damn. 

Fingers clamp around his wrist and guide it upwards towards Lance’s mouth, who has leaned back and now opens his mouth to take it upon himself to coat Keith’s hand anew. A wave of desire crawls from his chest down towards his dick as he watches Lance’s tongue run over the expanse of his palm, lapping at the fluids he finds there, before earnestly sucking each digit between his lips, one after the other, in an excruciatingly languid, yet sinful, pace. But overall just filthy. 

Keith has to rip his hand out of his grasp before he potentially blows his load too soon if he watches the brunet tease him any longer with that act. It still earns him a snicker, because Lance knows _exactly_ what he’s doing to Keith. Well, two can play that game. Without further ado he wraps his wet hand around their dicks again, simultaneously shifting his position a little, which ends up with Lance being pushed closer against him, chests touching while the brunet searches for purchase, a little thrown off by the shifting. Keith pushes his knees a little apart, so that he’s able to lean back without losing his balance, which ended up with Lance being pushed further into him. A wicked smirk coils his lips as he looks up and starts to put a little more pressure into the jerking. 

Lance watches him intensely, arms crossed around his shoulders, and hovering his face just a hair’s breadth away from Keith’s. Both their mouths are open, breathing in each other’s air. 

Keith can feel his impending orgasm, but he doesn’t want to be the first to finish. Therefor he shifts the hand clutching Lance’s asscheek more into the middle, splaying his hand wide with his middle finger resting over the crease of his ass. He pushes the digit between the globes, and rests the tip of his finger right above the rim. When he both hears and feels Lance’s breath hitch in his throat in anticipation, he takes it as the cue to proceed, first circling the puckered skin before finally penetrating in an agonizing slow motion. 

What he didn’t expect is Lance trembling in his arms as his orgasm crashes over him, cum shooting out between Keith’s fingers and painting Lance’s chest as well as his own white. The high moan escaping Lance’s throat is what ultimately pushes Keith over the edge. His lips unconsciously seek Lance’s throat as he clamps his teeth into the flesh, while he works himself through his orgasm, spine tingling, hot cum joining Lance’s on their chests. Some even splatters against his chin. 

He feels a hand brush through his sweat-soaked locks, while he gently rocks them, still holding Lance close to him, enjoying how they’re sticking together from bodily fluids. 

A few moments of silence pass before Keith is able to let his grip on Lance loosen; his finger had slipped out but he has been clutching his back until now. 

It is Lance who breaks the comfortable silence first, “Jeez, your human teeth are pretty sharp.” A few seconds of silence pass in which Lance pulls a little away to observe Keith. Then he blinks. “Wait, is that _blood_ on your lips?” He fumbles for the spot on his neck where Keith has accidentally bitten down too hard and jerks from the pain. “ _Ow_!”

Keith blinks away the haze still clouding his mind, but snaps out the moment he sees the blood smeared at the base of Lance’s neck. “Fuck, Lance, I didn’t mean to bite down so deep”, he apologizes alarmed. “Please forgive me!”

“Hey, relax. I’m good. It’s only stinging a little”, Lance tries to reassure him, patting a hand on Keith’s shoulder. “Just need a band-aid”, he ascertains and looks over towards the cottage. “Do you have a first-aid kit in there?” With his free hand he points towards the cottage.

Instead of answering, Keith secures his hold around Lance’s body before attempting to stay up. Which is not so easy as he might have anticipated–his legs are still wobbly from his kneeling position thus he falls back on his ass, with Lance shrieking as he hurries to brace his hands against Keith’s chest so that they don’t collide with another. 

“Did you just try to _carry_ me to the cottage?”, he asks incredulously, eyebrows raised upwards. Keith just blinks up at him, looking dumbfounded. “Pff”, he fails to contain a laugh. Sadly he can’t reach his phone from this position to take a snapshot. He’d never imagined to see Keith’s perfect features bear such a… normal expression. 

“Stop laughing!”, Keith snaps, cheeks heating up from the embarrassment. He brushes wet bangs out of his face and makes a face when he accidentally smears some of his dried cum onto his face. He reaches for one of their towels and starts to rub it over his chest in irritation. 

“C’mon, don’t be a mullet”, Lance’s attempt to lighten up the mood is fended off by an irritated glare. 

“Yeesh, someone’s a little grumpy“, he mumbles and scrambles off of Keith’s lap. Then he snatches his own towel from the side and starts to wipe at his own skin. 

“Don’t touch the bite mark. I’ll get some antiseptic and a band-aid”, Keith orders, while he stands up, pulls on his trunks and makes his way over to the cottage. 

“I’m not dumb”, he hears the brunet’s retort. 

Luckily they indeed store a first-aid kit in there. Coran had been adamant about that when they started to gather here more often. Even shifters with faster healing abilities need to be bandaged up some times. 

Nearly a minute later he’s returning to Lance, settling back next to him, who’s covered by his swimming trunks again. “I have to clean up the blood first”, he says after examining the mark. He really bit down pretty hard during his haze. The wound is small but still bleeding, most of the blood smeared around the pierced skin. 

“Okay”, Lance agrees, leaning a little back and craning his neck to the other side for better access. When Keith doesn’t attempt to move, he raises an eyebrow in curious fashion. “Something wrong?”

Keith is still starring at the wound, chewing on his bottom lip. “Do you mind if I clean it with my tongue?”, he feels his cheeks heat up after voicing the question. He doesn’t know if Lance will find it disgusting, because biting and leaving marks on their partner’s body is a normal urge shifters harbor. Especially during sex. 

There’s a moment of silence as Lance seems to contemplate the question and Keith is already fumbling in the kit for some cotton and the bottle of antiseptic, but when Lance stops him by placing his hand above his, he looks back up to meet warm blue eyes. The brunet doesn’t say a word, just offers his neck in silent approval. 

Letting a sigh escape his lips, he squeezes the hand on his, before he adjusts his position until he’s pressed up against Lance’s side. He lifts a hand to cradle Lance’s other cheek in his palm as he places his lips over the wound and starts to drag his tongue delicately over the skin, lapping up the blood and enjoying its sweet taste. His other hand closes around Lance’s to interlace their fingers. 

At first the brunet jerks a little when his tongue touches the pierced skin, and Keith is ready to pull away, but a hand cups the back of his head, fingers buried in his tresses and holds him in this position. So Keith relaxes again. 

When he feels no more fresh blood pour from the wound, he finishes his ministration with a last lick and a butterfly kiss. The hold on his scalp loosens and he’s able to pull away, meeting the gaze of Lance, whose cheeks are tinted a shade darker. Checking the air he can tell that his boyfriend definitely isn’t opposed to him licking up his blood. 

Next he wets a cotton ball with the antiseptic solution and softly dabs it onto the wound, earning him a hiss from the brunet. At last comes the band-aid. Closing the kit he examines his work. “I’ll try to restrain myself in the future”, he promises determinedly. 

“How many times do I have to tell you that I’m _fine_ ”, Lance tells him exasperatedly. 

“But I _hurt_ you!”, Keith counters. “I couldn’t control my urges. Next time I might–“, he’s stopped by a finger being pressed against his lips. 

“Next time just ask me”, Lance says and loops his arms around his neck, pushing in close. “I’m not opposed to you leaving marks on me from time to time”, he admits with blushing cheeks. “I mean, everybody’s got a knack for something... right?”

At this admittance Keith raises an eyebrow, hands resting on warm bronze hips. “Like what?”, he presses curiously. 

Teeth nibble on his bottom lip, which is still swollen from their intent kissing; Lance looks a little flustered, which is really endearing. Keith’s heart flutters in his chest at seeing his boyfriend acting all shy. Lifting a hand, he brushes his thumb over Lance’s lower lip to free it from his abusing teeth. He can’t help but trace the flesh with the pad, eyes following the motion, swallowing when Lance sneaks his tongue out to lick at the tip. Warmth coils in the pit of his stomach, they just had sex but as a shifter his refractory period is shorter compared to a human’s. 

Clearing his throat he withdraws his hand to rest it back safely on Lance’s hip, fingers digging into the soft flesh when he sees the knowing grin on the brunet’s lips. 

“You were saying”, he tries to get their conversation back on track and sees Lance widening his eyes before averting them, hands twitching behind Keith’s head. “C’mon, it can’t be that bad. I like marking you”, he offers as a starter, now not feeling guilty anymore after knowing that Lance tolerates it. 

A heavy sigh. And then he finally spills his secret, “I like to… be praised.” He’s blushing full force now, embarrassed at his confession. 

Keith can only blink in surprise, because being turned on by praise is nothing bad. Cocking his head to the side, eyes on Lance’s face, he says, “Do you like being called a _good boy_?” It was meant to be a question but at the reaction he receives, the blood runs hot in his veins. 

Lance’s eyes are round, pupils dilated, cheeks tinted burgundy. His chest heaves, brushing up against Keith’s as he takes deep breaths. And God, his _scent_! It’s rich with arousal. Fuck, if he’d known beforehand of his weakness he’d used that to his advantage much sooner. 

His lips coil into a wicked smirk as he leans forward until his mouth hovers against Lance’s ear, lips brushing over the shell as he whispers in a husky voice, “You smell so fantastic, my pretty boy. So beautiful.” He can practically feel Lance tremble in his hold, squirming against him, hot breath escaping his lips as he buries his face against Keith’s neck from embarrassment. But Keith can still smell how turned on he is. 

“K-Keith”, Lance stutters against his skin. When Keith moves a hand towards the front of his trunks and presses the heel of it against the bulge he finds there, Lance lets out a keen. 

“I love it when you make noises like that”, he admits, putting more pressure into the touch. “You have such a cute voice.” Another noise escapes Lance’s lips. “I love it when you get all flustered. Your cheeks heating up that nicely shade of burgundy. It really suits you. Makes me wanna lick your skin to get a taste of you. Bet you taste delicious.” His fingers close around the outline of Lance’s erection. 

What he didn’t count on is Lance being wrecked by a whole body shiver and coming right then and there, staining the material from the inside. Keith blinks down in bafflement towards the dark spot which he has still covered with his hand. “Uhh”, he says dumbfounded. 

“M-meanie”, he hears Lance’s stutter against the skin of his neck, still hiding from his eyes. Then something wet drops against his skin, salty smell hitting his nose, and his posture stiffens in alarm. 

His hands snap towards Lance’s shoulders to push him a few inches away and get a proper look at his face, though the brunet is quite earnest in his attempt to hide his face from view. “Are you _crying_? Did I do something wrong?”, he asks aghast as he closes his fingers around Lance’s wrists and pries his hands away to reveal his face. 

“ _No!_ ”, Lance snaps defensively, albeit Keith can clearly see that he’s doing just that. His blue eyes are watery, lashes glistening from wetness. His scent is sour from shame. Wait a minute. Is he feeling ashamed because of coming pretty much from Keith’s words alone? 

A snort escapes him which is immediately commented with a glare. “You’re too cute”, he explains, pulling one wrist close to his face and kissing the skin on the inside. “You’re making it really hard for me to not devour you”, he admits, nuzzling against the palm. “I want you so much. Please let me stay overnight.” 

The brunet sniffles, but does return his look. “You don’t think it’s weird?”

Keith shakes his head, a definite _no_. Then he guides Lance’s hand towards the bulge in his own trunks, showing him how _hard_ he is. Lance bites his lip as he crooks his fingers, eliciting a moan from Keith. It seems to give him some of his confidence back. “You can stay over”, he relents, brushing his free hand over his eyes to wipe away the tears. 

Keith lets a sigh escape his lips as he rocks his pelvis into the press of Lance’s hand, not ashamed of how needy he must look right now. Hooking his thumbs into the waistband of the trunks, he yanks them down until his cock is fully exposed, then he takes the shaft into his hand, working over the length, his lips falling open from panting as he looks Lance straight into the eyes. 

Blue eyes stray down, locking onto Keith’s dick in his hand, tongue darting out between lips and Keith lets out a surprised gasp when Lance bends down and closes his lips around the tip of his dick, cheeks hollowing as he starts to suckle. 

His hand stutters, eyes watching his boyfriend intensely, fascinated by the sight in front of him. His mouth is wet and warm and Keith grips his dick tighter in fear of accidentally driving it further up into Lance’s mouth, which will definitely hurt.  

With a pop Lance retracts his mouth, but before Keith is able to mourn the loss, Lance wraps his own hand around his hard flesh, thumbing the slit before he encloses the head again, taking more inside this time. 

With Lance’s scent of arousal still lingering in his nose, and the image of him coming with flushed cheeks still vivid in his mind and on top of that having Lance suck him off, is just too much at once. He hurriedly grabs a fistful of brown hair to pull him off his dick in time before Keith can choke him with his cum. Instead it splatters onto Lance’s face, which he also didn’t mean to happen. At least this load is lesser in its amount… 

Eyebrows scrunch together as Lance watches him cautiously. He doesn’t seem angry about Keith’s mishap. Just in case Keith grabs his towel and moves to carefully clean his boyfriend’s face. “Sorry”, he apologizes for the umpteenth time within the last few hours. What a day.

Behind the towel he hears Lance let out an amused snort. Lifting the material off his face, he catches Lance’s amused expression before he bursts out into a fit of giggles. Keith rolls his eyes in fond annoyance. Lance is finally back to normal. Hooray.

*

Hours later, they’re on their way back. Clouds had formed over the sun and they decided to head back in hope of getting home before the rain hits them. They didn’t have much luck on that part.

Half an hour away from town they were caught by a downpour, leaving them drenched from shoulders to toes in seconds and when they finally arrived at the parking lot, they made a run for Lance’s shop, dodging the big puddles on their way. 

In front of the shop Lance fumbles for the keys in his backpack, Keith crowding in right behind him in hope of hiding under the small canopy over the door. They both heave out a breath when they finally enter the safety of the shop and Lance immediately pulls off his sneakers to head for the back room where he stores a bowl for situations like this. 

Keith has already removed his boots and pants, standing in only his boxers and shirt, his jacket dangling in his hand. Lance has to hide a giggle at spotting the disarranged mop of dark hair. They had left their helmets on, but Keith forgot to tie his hair back into a ponytail, thus the ends of his locks are wet. 

Lance starts to peel off his own clothes and dumps them into the bowl on top of Keith’s. When he’s himself down to his briefs, goosebumps rise on his exposed clammy skin. “I’ll hang it up upstairs”, he offers Keith and takes his jacket, who nods and removes his shirt. 

Ascending the stairs, he hears Keith suggest behind him, “We should take a shower first.”

Lance swallows but hums in agreement. “You can go on ahead. I’ll put the clothes in the washer.”

After arriving upstairs and having hung up Keith’s jacket and turned on the washer, he’s surprised by the raven as the man crowds him against the wall with an expression on his features which Lance can only describe as hungry. 

“Why don’t we take a shower together?” Warm hands press against the pebbled skin on his abdomen as the man closes in on him until they are separated by only a hair’s breadth. 

The urge to press up against the furnace that is Keith’s body is strong, because damn, standing in the hallway after getting drenched is _not_ nice. Thus he nods in agreement before he dives forward and presses his mouth against Keith’s, simultaneously pushing up against his warmer body. His arms wind around his neck, while Keith eagerly wraps his own around Lance’s torso to grab at his backside. Their hips start to languidly rut against another, appeasing their awakening members, all the while their mouths are busy with kissing like starved men–hungry for the taste of the other. 

It takes a few minutes until they’re able to pull apart and make their way towards the bathroom, where they can finally rip off their underwear and squeeze into the shower stall, which has barely the room for two occupants. 

The warm water is welcomed on Lance’s cold skin, but he still prefers Keith’s hands leaving hot trails of their own on his flesh. This time Keith is the one being pushed up against the wall with Lance pressing up against him. Tanned hands roam over fair skin, rub pert nipples and tug at dark locks, while the raven enjoys squeezing the soft globes of Lance’s ass. 

Lance wiggles a hand between their bodies to get a grip on their stiff cocks, stroking lazily–just to tease, not intend on getting them off. Moans leave their lips from the contact of their cocks through rubbing against another. The grip on his ass turns harsher, which he’s got absolutely _nothing_ against, before they are pulled apart. The motion makes the water trail right through the crease of his ass, gliding over the rim and making it tingle from its soft touch and the tugging. His cock twitches at the sensation and he feels Keith smirk into the kiss. In retaliation he bites down on Keith’s bottom lip, earning himself a playful growl as response. 

When he dives in for another make-out session, Keith dodges his attempt and instead plants his lips against the shell of his ear. “I wanna eat you out”, he says with a husky voice. 

And damn, does that sound fucking irresistible. A whole body shiver wrecks through him caused by the intensity in which the sentence was being spoken. On top of that the mullet knows exactly what these words did to Lance, judging by the deep chuckle rumbling through his chest. 

He throws him a half-hearted glare, before he twists his hand between them, eliciting a surprised gasp from the raven. Now it’s his turn to chuckle. “Serves you right, mullet.” And just like that he peels himself away from between his arms and reaches for the shampoo. He squeezes the content into his palm and offers the bottle to the other man, who just stoically pouts at him. Lance grins at his kicked-puppy-look. “If you wanna have a taste, you better hurry up. I need room.” A laugh escapes him as he watches Keith’s eyes go wide before he snatches the bottle from him and starts with washing himself, his pout replaced by an eager expression. 

Lance is still busy with washing himself when minutes later Keith announces, “Finished”, and, after slapping Lance on his ass, moves out of the stall. Watching his boyfriend hurriedly dry himself off is amusing. And he feels his abdomen tingle from knowing the reason behind his boyfriend’s eagerness.

As soon as Keith has left the bathroom, Lance proceeds with cleaning his backside. _A little prepping in advance won’t hurt_ , he decides.

 

Upon entering his room with a towel clad around his shoulders, he notices that Keith didn’t turn on the lights. Instead the room is shrouded in darkness, the only light provided by the moonlight coming from the window. 

“You might have night vision but I wanna see something too. I’ve got some night lights, which are pretty neat”, he says as he carefully makes his way to one corner of the room where one of the lights are placed. When he turns it on a soft reddish hue emanates from it, coating the room in a soft light. Finally able to see more, he lets his eyes roam around the room in search for his boyfriend. 

He finds the black panther sitting on its haunches in the other corner, red eyes gleaming in the half-darkness, watching him. 

For a second he’s unsure, remembering the day he first met this panther, but when the beast just calmly looks at him, not moving one muscle, he thinks about the man behind the beast and that he might really be in love with him. So he pushes his unwelcome feelings to the back of his mind and walks over until he’s standing in front of it. When he lifts a hand to brush it against the side of its head, the beast nuzzles against his palm, closing its eyes. Lance sighs and smiles down, lifting his other hand and cradling the head between his palms, fingers brushing through the fur. “You’re really beautiful like that”, he admits as he scratches behind an ear and chuckles when it lets out a sort of pleased noise. 

For a few minutes he enjoys the touch before he remembers that he needs to do something before they start with the fun activities. He hears the beast let out a whine at the loss of contact and huffs out a laugh. “Sorry, babe, but your amazingly attractive boyfriend needs to work on his beauty.” From a drawer he gets his body lotion and wiggles the bottle in his hand. “You can do my back.” Then he goes to sit down at the edge of the mattress. 

He doesn’t hear it come closer but when he pulls off his towel the beast is standing by his side, curiously sniffing the bottle lying on the duvet. Reminding him of a house cat. 

Lance raises an eyebrow when he sees it screw up its nose. “Guess it’s a little strong for your cat nose”, he assesses and takes the bottle in hand. A noise escapes the beast as it bumps its head against his thigh. “No whining. My skin needs moisture.” Ruby eyes narrow. “Okay okay, I can leave some parts out for tonight”, he gives in and squeezes an amount onto his right palm. “Arms okay?” A nod, so he rubs the lotion onto his left arm and shoulder. “Chest?” A vehement shake of head. At that Lance raises an eyebrow. “Why not?” He can think of a reason why, but it’s too much fun to tease Keith in this form. 

A growl from the beast makes him grin. “Sorry I can’t speak ‘grumpy cat’”, he teases in a sing-song voice, grinning from ear to ear as he receives a glare from the beast. A second later he gets to see his boyfriend shift back into his human form for the first time. It looks... painful. “You okay?”, he asks worriedly, eyeing the tense shoulders and the crouched position. 

“Yes”, Keith answers finally. 

A tingle runs over his skin at the tone. He takes the bottle in his hand again but Keith snaps out a hand and grabs his wrist. “Not the chest”, the raven stresses, “nor the thighs.” At that Lance blinks in surprise. Instead of elaborating the man inches closer until he’s kneeling between Lance’s opened legs. He watches as Keith lifts his hands onto his knee pads and slowly brushes them upward, fingers splayed wide, applying a little pressure to the touch. Lance swallows as goosebumps rise on the touched skin from the sensual movement. 

“Okay, I get it. You like my thighs”, he babbles, to cover the blush and the interested twitch from down between his legs. 

Violet eyes roam over his exposed body, shamelessly ogling him–no surprise, he’s practically presenting himself to Keith in this position. _Damn_. 

“I wanna mark your thighs”, Keith whispers wantonly, as his orbs zero in on the skin, thumbs stroking over the flesh on the inside. Lance has to bite his lip to keep the whimper from spilling over his lips. Fuck, why does Keith have to be so hot! 

Bottle forgotten at his side, Lance lifts his left hand towards Keith’s face, cupping the cheek as the man leans into the touch; his thumb touches his bottom lip and when Keith opens his lips a little Lance pushes the tip in, breath stuttering in his chest when he feels the rough tongue lap at the digit. He pushes further in and feels teeth graze the flesh. A hand closes around his wrist as Keith opens his mouth further, exposing his teeth. Biting on his lower lip, Lance brushes over the canines, watching intensely as drool drips onto his flesh and down Keith’s jaw. It’s a messy sight but still a massive turn on. Especially with Keith on his knees and looking up at him like he wants to devour Lance. 

He feels his dick stir between his legs, apparently having the same opinion. But a quick check reassures him that Keith is also sporting a semi-hard-on, so Lance doesn’t have to feel embarrassed. “Fine with me. Just don’t bite too hard”, Lance agrees at last and pulls his hand back once Keith’s hold on it loosens. He still sports Keith’s mark on his neck from earlier, which he patched up anew after showering.

While he focuses back on lathering his other arm he notices Keith lean closer and brush his nose against the inside of his thigh, sneaking his tongue out and alternating between licking and nibbling on the skin. Sparks of arousal flicker in the pit of his stomach while his dick grows harder; he really hopes that Keith plans to put his mouth to use in this position. And not only to suck marks into the flesh on the inside of his thighs. 

When he’s finished with his arm he bends his free leg and probs his foot onto the edge of the mattress to lather up his calf and ankle. The motion makes his dick dangle only inches away from Keith’s face. Violet eyes train on the curved appendage and Lance’s feels his breath hitch in his throat at seeing the hungry glint in the depths. Still the raven doesn’t move and Lance has to use all his willpower to not beg for his boyfriend to get his fucking mouth on him. 

When Keith catches him starring, the corners of his mouth twitch. Yep, that teasing shit is driving Lance mad on purpose. _Stupid mullet_ , he curses in his mind and focuses back on his task at hand. 

“I need to do my other side”, he informs after a minute, hoping to sound nonchalant because Keith has continued with sucking marks and completely ignoring his aching member. 

“Go ahead”, Keith tells him after finishing with the fifth mark. Damn, he’ll look like a Dalmatian tomorrow. 

With flushed cheeks he hefts his other leg onto the edge, but doesn’t move to put his right leg down. That earns him an annoyed look from the raven, which he comments with an innocent smile. 

Fingers grip onto the underside of his exposed thighs and slip further down. Lance didn’t count on that this position exposes his hole to the hungry eyes of his boyfriend and thus a surprised gasp leaves his lips when Keith puts his nails to use and scratches at the soft flesh inches away from his most private parts. A grin slips onto the raven’s lips. “That’s what you get for teasing me”, he explains. 

Lance splutters, trying to move his legs but Keith’s grip on his thighs keeps him in this position. “You started it”, he counters in his defense and nearly loses his balance if not for propping his hands behind his back in time. 

“ _Oh_?” Keith’s eyes wander over his body and rest on the spot between his legs. “Does _little_ _Lancey_ crave my attention? Is he needy for my touch?” He moves his eyes back up to return his look. “Does he want my mouth on him?” His voice is low, husky but still teasing. Nevertheless it gives Lance shivers. “Does he want me to run my tongue over him? Play with his head? Get a taste of him?” 

Lance can’t help but groan, cheeks flushed, dick twitching helplessly. “Fuck, _yes_! Please, babe!” To hell with staying strong. He’ll fucking beg if that gets him what he craves the most now! “I need you to suck me! _Please_.”

“Fuck, Lance”, he hears Keith whisper, red eyes wide in wonder, pupils blown and nearly repressing all the color. 

He opens his mouth to beg again but then Keith leans forward to plant his mouth on his dick, swirling his tongue around the tip and collecting the precum welling from the slit. His hands fly towards Keith’s head, fingers burying into thick raven locks as he holds on for dear life while Keith goes down on him, taking more of his member into his mouth. 

“ _Keith_ ”, he moans as his thighs quiver, still being held in Keith’s hands. He needs to bend his torso forward to hold his balance. Keith’s mouth is so wet and warm, the texture of his tongue deliciously rough against his sensitive flesh. As the raven starts to bob his head, he occasionally hums when his lips touch the base or suckles on the tip when he’s up. It’s fucking perfect how he works him to completion. 

With a loud moan Lance comes into his mouth, not able to utter a warning in time. Keith still doesn’t pull away as he swallows his load, basically milking his dick and Lance groans at the absolutely filthy behavior. 

The noise of his panting is broken by a wet pop when Keith finally pulls his mouth away. Lance’s hands are still in his hair, so he’s able to angle Keith’s head up and look him in the eyes. His lips are a little swollen and glistening from spit and cum, but Lance still leans down to kiss him, tasting himself when he pushes his tongue between Keith’s lips. 

When they part, Keith loosens his hold on his thighs and Lance can finally sit up properly. He’s still a little out of breath from his orgasm  

“Actually I wanted to make you come from me eating your ass”, he admits nonchalantly, as his fingers circle the skin on his legs in a lazily motion. 

“Keeeeith”, Lance whines and lets his back hit the mattress, pushing his arms over his face to hide his dark flush. “You’re so mean”, he complains and gets an amused chuckle in response. 

“I can’t help it. You’re so endearing when you blush like that”, he explains. 

When Lance peeks through his crossed arms he sees him stand up. Immediately his eyes are drawn to the spot between his hips, it’s stained with seed and not hard anymore. He props himself up on his arms, curiously cocking his head to the side. “How did you?”

Keith grins down at him as he gathers the bottle of lotion into his hands. “I came from your scent and taste alone. Didn’t even need to touch myself”, he admits shamelessly as he drops down on the spot between his legs. Planting his free hand beside Lance, he leans halfway down. “You’ve no idea how fucking delicious you smell when you orgasm”, he whispers huskily. 

“Oh god”, Lance buries his flaming cheeks back into his hands. “You and your dirty mouth”, he curses and yelps when he feels Keith pinch his nipple. He pulls his hands back to glare up at the raven who offers him a sheepish grin. 

“Didn’t you want me to do your back?”

Lance bites back an insult but nods. As he moves further up to take a comfortable position on his belly, Keith moves away to retrieve something from his backpack. “I’ll only use one hand. The lotion is not made for shifters. I brought a special lube that smells decent but also tastes nice for us.” He throws the bottle of said lubricant onto the spot next to him and Lance takes a minute to examine it while Keith takes his position behind him, kneeling between his spread legs. 

“Do you specially order that?”, he asks, hearing the sound of the lotion being squeezed out, and automatically tenses his body for the initial cold feeling upon contact. Which doesn’t happen. 

Chancing a look over his shoulder he spots Keith’s cupped hand, in which he must be holding the lotion and warming it up. How considerate. “The company which makes them is run by shifters. They have tons of products specially made for our sensitive noses and taste buds”, he explains. “You ready?” 

Lance cushions his head back onto his pillow and relaxes his muscles. “Yep.”

When the lotion hits his skin it’s nicely warmed up, and Keith’s hand is doing a fantastic job of massaging it into his skin. “Is there anything you’re not good with”, he wonders aloud. 

The fingers on his lower back twitch. “I’m not good with people”, the ravens admits. 

Lance thinks back to their first interaction. “Hm, don’t tell me you’re shy around new people?” His tone is teasing but when he feels Keith stop, he looks over his shoulder to find him looking uncertain. _Huh_. He reaches a hand back and clasps it over Keith’s free one. “That’s nothing to be worried about. My family will absolute _adore_ you”, he reassures him with confidence. Because he knows that all of his family members will see what a great guy is hidden behind this broody facade. 

Red eyes meet his. Then Keith bends down to kiss him on the cheek. “I’m looking forward to meeting them”, he whispers and Lance beams his 100 watt smile at him. His chest tingles from the warm feeling spreading when he receives a fond smile in return. 

It only stays for a few seconds before it’s pushed away by a sharp sting on his left asscheek. Wait a minute. Was he just _bitten_? A look over his shoulder indeed confirms his presumption. 

Keith is still mouthing at the abused flesh, right at the peak of his globe. “Even _there_?”, he whines and buries his face back into the pillow. Stupid shifters with their stupid urges. 

Feeling Keith snicker against his flesh, he cants his hips upwards. “Hey!”, he hears the complained shout and grins into his pillow. 

“Serves you right. Perverted mullet- _ah_!” His sentence is cut off by a sensual moan when Keith gropes his cheeks and massages them forcefully, which ends up tucking at his rim. 

“Who’re you calling a pervert?”, Keith’s voice is closer now and Lance can feel him hovering above him, hands not ceasing in their motion. “I can smell your arousal, Lance”, he whispers in a dark voice.  

“You and your stupid nose”, Lance complains as he clamps his teeth into his pillow to hide another pleased noise. Seconds later the pillow is wrenched out of his grasp. “Hey!”

“Ah, ah. No hiding. I wanna hear your voice when I eat you out.” The voice rumbles through the chest hovering above his back, making goosebumps rise on his skin, while the hot press of Keith’s erection against his ass makes him squirm. Fuck, is he really that easy to read? How exactly does he smell if it makes Keith hard in seconds?

“It’s a fresh scent, with a hint of sweetness”, the deep voice whispers into his ear, answering the question from his mind. “It wraps around me, makes me feel warm all over. It’s _addictive_.” 

Lance pushes himself up a little, cranes his neck and meets Keith’s lips in a searing kiss, full of teeth and tongues. Drool slips out from their mouths, but Lance just wants more of Keith. 

Hands leave his ass as Keith fumbles for the bottle of lube, the other hand slipping between the  crease of his ass and rubbing over the puckered skin, which coaxes out a moan from Lance, that is promptly swallowed by Keith. 

“More”, he begs into the kiss and feels the trickle of lube between his cheeks. He winces from the cold contact. 

“Sorry”, Keith apologizes as he pulls on his bottom lip, licking back into his mouth and running his tongue over his gums. He starts to rock his erection against the underside of his ass. Hot and hard. Lance wants it so desperately inside him. 

With one last lick he pulls away. “Hurry up”, he orders breathily and pouts when the other man chuckles. But at least he looks as desperately turned on as Lance feels. 

“Lift your hips”, he hears Keith instruct back behind him and Lance pushes his hips upwards and feels a pillow being stuffed under him. The material is tender against his aching dick and he softly starts to rock into it. He’s got a washer. 

“I wish you could see yourself like that”, Keith says in awe. He gropes at his globes again, pulling the flesh apart. “So pretty”, he states, breath fanning over the exposed pucker which twitches from the combination of warm air and cold lube. 

Lance buries his face against his arms, face flushed up to the tip of his ears. The noise he makes after this filthy praise makes him want to hide in shame. Another bite on his asscheek makes him jolt, this time it’s the other one. 

“Don’t feel embarrassed”, Keith chastises. “That’s nothing to be ashamed of. I’ve never been this turned on in my life.” 

At that revelation Lance lifts his head and searches for Keith’s eyes over his shoulder. “Really?”

“Yes”, he says, expression honest and he rocks his erection against Lance’s thigh to show him how hard he is. 

He chews on his bottom lip and watches Keith’s dark eyes follow the motion. “I already prepped myself a little in the shower”, he admits hesitantly and lets out a surprised noise when the grip on his globes turns bruising. 

A low growl rumbles through Keith’s chest, eyes turning even darker as the pupils dilate further. Lance’s spine prickles with arousal as he watches Keith dive down and bury his face between his spread cheeks. When the rough texture of his tongue hits the puckered skin, Lance’s legs twitch uncontrollably. 

First the tips of fingers probe at his rim, easily slipping inside and Keith spends no time before he pushes his tongue in alongside the digits, making Lance moan and arch his back, pushing his hips back into the touch, craving for deeper penetration. Which Keith grants seconds later with pushing his tongue further inside while his fingers hold his rim open. Feeling the roughly textured muscle lick over his inner walls drives him crazy, while he wiggles his toes and fists the sheets in a helpless action. He mewls in response to Keith tongue-fucking his hole. 

“Deeper”, he begs between pants, shamelessly arching his back and presenting more of his ass, cheeks flushing again from thinking about the image he must provide, but when Keith hums against his rim and pushes his fingers deeper, crooking the tips and hitting his sweet spot, he forgets his worry about being embarrassing. “ _Ah_ , again”, he moans out. 

Another hit against his prostate, then Keith starts to scissor his fingers, having withdrawn his tongue and currently mouthing at the underside of his balls, which isn’t hidden by the pillow. A shiver runs over his spine at the warm wetness on the sensitive skin there, still he doesn’t stop rutting against the softness pillowing his throbbing dick or pushing back into the fingers working in his ass. 

“Hmm, you taste sooo good”, he hears Keith mumble against his balls as he licks a stripe up from the underside to the crease of his ass. Lance can’t help the whine escape his lips at the filthy praise going straight to his dick. “God, wish you could smell your scent. It’s so heady now. Wanna bury my nose inside you all the time. Wanna make you feel good, baby.” 

“Kei- _ah_ -th!” Lance can feel his stomach tighten, warmth coiling in the pit and just another hit against his prostate pushes him over the edge. His cum stains the pillow under him, hips stuttering in their frantic motion, as he pants wetly against the sheets under his mouth, so deeply out of breath, which is really surprising for a second orgasm. 

As he catches his breath, Keith withdraws his fingers, massaging his lower back, digging his thumbs into the right spots, which nearly makes Lance come again from how stimulating it feels for his back after being arched for so long. 

“Told you I’d make you come”, he hears Keith brag smugly from behind, still kneading the flesh of Lance’s back. For that he’ll let that comment slide. Showoff. 

Instead he pillows his head on his crossed arms and looks over his shoulder to find his gaze, “Did you enjoy the show?” 

An impish grin crawls over Keith’s lips. “ _Very_.” His tongue sneaks out to lick at his lips, which are glistening from lube and spit. His chin too. Lance swallows and blushes a heady shade of burgundy. “But that was only the appetizer”, he continues and adjusts his position so that Lance is able to see his impressive cock, which is still rock hard, head flushed and coated in precum. He feels his mouth run watery at the sight. 

“Um, could you maybe give me a minute. Or two?”, he asks sheepishly, because damn, he might be thirsty to get fucked after such a long time, but he still needs a short break if he wants to be able to come a third time. 

A knowing smirk on the raven’s lips shows that the man knows exactly what he’s thinking. “Sure. Need some water?” And just like that he gets off the bed and retrieves a bottle from the other side of the room. 

“Um, thanks”, he says, a little dumbfounded. Still he pushes himself into a sitting position and takes the offered bottle. The water feels great on his hoarse throat. Over the bottleneck he watches Keith get a hairband and pull his hair back into a short ponytail. A high noise escapes his throat, which is halfway concealed with the bottle against his lips. Unfortunately Keith still heard it thanks to his sensitive ears. He raises a curious eyebrow and Lance averts his eyes hastily. 

“Leave some for me?”, he asks instead as he comes back, stopping in front of Lance at the edge of the bed. Lance gives him the still half-full bottle and takes the chance when Keith is busy with drinking to ogle his exposed body. It’s a piece of art, skin fair, muscles visibly shaped and prominent, abs formed, with a nice V shape pointing towards the impressive cock between his legs. 

Fingers cradle the side of his face and he looks up in surprise to finding Keith’s eyes on him, still dark with hunger. The mixed smell of lube and musk hits his nose and Lance realizes that the fingers brushing over his cheek and against his lips were in his ass. He probably should feel disgusted, but instead he feels the warm coil of arousal flow in his veins. 

“We could make use of the time”, he hears himself say as he scoots towards the edge, straddling his legs around Keith’s legs. His eyes never stray as he moves his head down to take a lick at Keith’s cockhead which is covered by precum. The taste is salty and strong, but nothing what he can’t tolerate. His hand grips the base as he moves his tongue over the shaft, mapping the veins he comes across. The hand on his cheek has moved towards his scalp and Lance hears him drinking the rest of the water and then throwing the bottle to the side. The second hand now brushes into his hair and Lance enjoys the tender touch. It is impressive how Keith can have so much control over himself, considering how hard he has been for the past amount of time and still being able to endure Lance’s teasing touches and not grab his head and ram his cock straight down his throat. Which Lance might not be that much opposed to in the near future. 

A breathy chuckle snaps him out of his thoughts. “You’re thinking something dirty”, Keith states, smirking down at him. Oh damn that sniffer. 

He noses against the base, while his hand works over the top half. “If you’re mean again I’ll keep that train of thought to myself. Forever.” _Take that mullet._  

Without warning his head is pulled back and he topples over from the motion, Keith following suit. Now Lance is laying on the mattress with Keith hovering over him, sporting a wicked grin. “I might take a guess”, he says and kneels above Lance’s chest, legs resting against his arms as he leers down at him. He’s working a hand over his dick, smearing the precum over the shaft before he angels his pelvis downward, guiding the tip of his dick towards Lance’s face. “Be a good boy and open up”, he instructs in a deep rumbling tone, which hits all of Lance’s weak points at once. Fuuuuck! 

A helpless whimper escapes his throat, body wrecked by a shiver, as he watches Keith’s dick come closer until the tip nudges against his still partly opened lips. Precum smears over them, he flicks his tongue out to get a taste and finally obliges with opening his mouth. 

Keith moves forward until the cockhead rests on Lance’s tongue. “Just the head. This position is not ideal for more”, he instructs and Lance relaxes his muscles, closing his lips around the flesh and working on it with his tongue. Above him Keith watches him with intense eyes. 

The only part he can move is his tongue so he focuses on doing his best while he holds Keith’s gaze, who seems to be really enjoying the view, judging by his heaving chest and the sweat glistening on it. Just how much is he holding his urges at bay?

He doesn’t know how long he’s been at it, how long he’s stared up and watched Keith’s expression soften by pleasure, but he can see that Keith is at his limit, can hear it in his pants getting heavier, see it in his shoulders tensing. He surprises Lance as he grips the base of his cock and moves away from Lance’s range, still keeping the position above him as he heaves with breaths, sweat dripping down onto Lance’s chest and Lance can’t avert his eyes from his face, can’t stop looking at the desperate flicker in his dark eyes. His fingers twitch at his sides, not able to touch, which is something he so badly desires. 

He wants to touch his boyfriend, be touched by him, as Keith fucks into him, reaching deep, connecting them. “ _Keith_ ”, he whispers, hoping that the call reaches him deep inside. He can probably see it in his eyes, smell his renewed arousal. 

Keith watches him, pushes soaked bangs out of his eyes. Then he climbs off him and Lance follows. They rearrange their positions, Keith being propped up halfway against the headboard, with Lance settling down on his lap, legs resting against his thighs. Lance has gotten the bottle of lube and squeezes some amount of it onto Keith’s awaiting cock and receives a hiss from the raven.

He snickers, “Payback.” He closes his fingers around the shaft and smears the lube around it.

“You shouldn’t do that when you’re going to be fucked”, the raven warns, hands resting on his hips and groping at the skin. 

Lance sticks his tongue out playfully. “I’ll be the one on top”, he retorts, giving the cock an extra strong pump, eliciting a moan from the man under him. 

“We’ll see for how long”, Keith says darkly and promptly whacks a hand across Lance’s asscheek. 

“ _Ow_ , that hurt”, Lance complains and receives a wicked grin from his boyfriend. Uh oh. Before he can get another slap in, Lance snatches his wrists and pins his hands against his chest. “Stay put, mullet”, he orders. This time Keith’s grin exposes his teeth. Lance swallows as he feels the tingle on his spine. His half-hard dick twitches in interest. “Will you behave?”, he inquires carefully, loosening his hold on the wrists a bit. And when he receives a nod, he lifts his hips a little more and lines himself up, the tip of Keith’s cock brushing against his entrance.

“Are you still loose?”, Keith asks suddenly, this time serious and Lance feels his chest flood with warmth at the caring note in his voice. 

He smiles down at him, grips the shaft and slowly eases himself down, hissing when he feels a little sting at the breach. It has been a long time since he has taken a dick. He feels a hand close around his own dick, working on it until it fully hardens, covering the pain with pleasure. Like that they keep going, until Lance finally bottoms out, ass resting on Keith’s pelvis. He feels nearly too full with Keith’s thick cock inside him, but he enjoys it, immensely. 

“You okay?”, Keith asks as he rubs at his sides.

Lance huffs out a laugh and leans down to kiss his lips. “ _Now_ you’re worrying. I thought that you could read my smell?” Hands roam over his back before one rests on his head, angling his neck a little to fit their lips better together as the kiss gets more heated, with tongues and teeth getting involved. Lance lets out a gasp when he feels Keith’s cock twitch inside him. _Who’s the impatient one now._ Pulling away with a grin he props his hands on Keith’s abdomen and lifts his hips until only the tip is inside, then slams back down, groaning at how good the penetration makes him feel. 

“God, _Lance_ ”, Keith’s moan is low and gives him tingles. So he moves again. And again. Until he finds a suitable rhythm, with Keith’s hands on his waist, providing some support. 

Chewing on his bottom lip, he arches his back as he gyrates his hips, mewling when he grazes his sweet spot. “You feel so good, babe”, he tells him. “I missed this.” He really had forgotten how pleasurable getting fucked can be. When he searches for Keith’s eyes he’s a little taken aback by the dark look clouding his expression. “Babe?”, he asks, hips stuttering in the motion. The grip on his waist turns harsher and suddenly he’s lifted out of Keith’s lap and thrown onto his back. “H-hey”, he tries when Keith is pushing himself between his legs, thumb digging into the dark marks on his thigh. “ _Ah._ “ 

“Don’t you dare think of someone else.” Keith’s voice is a dark rumble going through his chest above him, pupils blown apart, consuming the violet in his eyes, teeth gleaming between his lips from the light. He shoves two lubed fingers into his hole, crooking and hitting his prostate dead on. The breath leaves his lungs from the suddenness of the sensation as he scrambles for something to hold on, preferably Keith but the raven pushes his hands away when he attempts to get close.

He lets a whine slip between his lips, opening his legs a little wider in invitation and finally craning his neck in an open submissive act, which he once saw in a documentary. Praying that it will appease his boyfriend. 

Said man appraises his act for a moment, nostrils flaring as he must check his scent for any kind of fear or distrust. Which he won’t find, because Lance has overcome his fear. 

“Please”, he whispers. And that is the final string which snaps Keith into action. 

His fingers are replaced by his cock, as he drives it into him, bottoming out, fingers digging into his thighs as he sets a faster pace. The sound of skin slapping against skin is accompanied by moans from Lance and low growls from Keith, both men enjoying the immense pleasure. 

From his position he looks up at Keith’s abdomen, chest, face. He wants to feel him, be close to him. Giving it another chance, he lifts his hands towards Keith. “Keith, please.”

And luckily Keith relents. As soon as he’s in range, Lance loops his arms around his neck and draws him flush against him, kissing him full force. They have to separate shortly after because they expend more air. Keith still hovers close. He bends his head to suck one of Lance’s nipples between his lips and Lance automatically arches into the sensation, dick twitching between their abdomens. The raven never ceases his pace, just angling his hips a little and brushing up repeatedly against Lance’s prostate. 

“Kei– _ah–_ th!”, he moans and holds Keith’s face against his chest, feeling hot from all the biting and sucking on the sensitive bud. 

A growl rumbles through Keith’s chest and suddenly Lance’s is thrown out of kilter when he’s flipped onto his belly and entered from behind. Warm puffs of air hit the back of his neck as Keith leans over him, all the while pounding into his ass, hitting his prostate dead on. A rough tongue sneaks out to lick at his nape, while Lance is clawing at the sheets, asscheeks tingling from the continual slapping against Keith’s thighs. 

“Who are you thinking of?”, he hears a deep voice whisper into his ear.

Is he still mad about that? “Only you– _ah–_ Keith”, he tells him between pants. 

“I can’t hear you.” Oh fuck.

“It’s you _Keith_ ”, he nearly screams and shivers when he hears a chuckle against his ear. 

“ _Good boy.”_  

And suddenly Lance is tipping over the edge. Like a wave his orgasm crashes over him, whole body tensing and then going slack, dick twitching as he dry orgasms. 

Through his haze he takes note of Keith releasing inside him, mouth clamped onto the nape of his neck, but not biting down. He hovers a few seconds longer over him, before he eases out and collapses next to him. 

And Lance really wants to see his satisfied expression, but he can’t persuade his body into moving. The only thing he manages is shifting his face onto a side. His eyes droop but before fatigue is able to claim him, he feels Keith throwing an arm around his lower back and nestling against his side, lips brushing a kiss into his hair, before he too goes slack. 

 * A few days later *

It’s a slow Thursday morning, with only a few early riser costumers coming in for their morning coffee on their way to work. They’re here for Shay’s coffee but they also buy some of his chocolate as a dessert for their lunch break. With a warm smile he welcomes them, knowing some by their names already. While Shay prepares their orders, he packs their small bags with chocolates. 

Half an hour later it’s quiet again, which is usually the cue for Lance to go back into the kitchen and work on new chocolates, but Shay asks to step out for a moment because of her brother calling her. 

While Lance checks his to-do list for today, he hears the entry bell jingle and looks up to greet two newcomers. “Welcome in _Chocolate Blues_ , what can I help you with?” 

The man and woman both come closer, eyes roaming around before they settle on the counter in front of Lance. Both are dressed nicely, their clothes looking expensive, and he has to admit that both are good looking. The man is taller than Lance, white hair–which reminds him of Allura–is pulled back in a neat ponytail, skin fair, with high cheekbones and blue eyes. The woman has  short, black hair, blue eyes and pale skin, with an asian touch to her face. 

“You are not from town”, Lance assesses, while he musters both visitors. He doesn’t know why but he doesn’t really like the vibes they emit. Still he pushes the uneasy feeling to the back of his mind. Even months after the banishment of Rolo and Nyma he still harbors the initial fear of meeting new people who could turn out to be shifters. 

“We’re just passing through”, the man finally answers, while the woman is still checking the display. “I’m really fond of sweets and after hearing about your shop, we decided to make a stop.”

Lance offers a smile after hearing that. “Which flavors do you like? I have different kind of chocolate, with different fillings. If you wanna have a taste first, I have a few samples”, he explains, and offers a small basket with small bits of his creations. 

After both have tried some, they decide on some and Lance prepares the bags. 

“Do you take commissions?”, the woman asks suddenly. 

“Usually yes, but for the next months I’m fully booked. If you have time, I can reserve a spot for later.”

“That would be great. Do you also make cakes?”

“Yes. There’s a small booklet with some of my former creations. I can do some variations, but nothing too fancy, like a wedding cake”, he explains as he points towards the aforementioned booklet lying between the baskets of chocolate bars. 

While the woman skims the pages, he feels the eyes of the man follow his movements. When he chances a look, he flinches at the scrutinizing gaze he meets and hastily looks away. His skin starts to prickle, the uneasy feeling crawls back to the forefront. So he hurries in packing their order. “A-anything else?”

“Acxa”, the man calls and the woman looks up from the pages. When she shakes her head, the man looks up towards the board. “A coffee, black. No sugar.”

“Okay.” Luckily that is something he can manage on his own. Shay had explained the functions of her machine. 

After everything is ready and paid, the woman steps up again towards the counter. “About the cake… I would like to place an order.”

“Uh, sure. I’ll write down your name, telephone number and email address to stay in contact. I can’t give you an accurate date yet therefore I’ll email you when I know the timeframe and we can talk about your order. Or do you already know what kind of cake you would like?” He already has pulled out his notebook to write down her contact information. 

“I haven’t decided yet. I will be ready once you contact me”, she answers and takes the pen he offered her. 

After she’s done he checks if everything needed is noted. _Acxa._ No surname. What a strange name. 

The moment they turn around to leave, Shay comes back, greeting them both and watching them leave. Once they are out of earshot, the woman turns towards Lance with both eyebrows raised. “Wow, they looked like models.” She blinks in surprise as she watches Lance slump forward onto the counter, face buried on his arms. “You alright?”

Lance makes some waving motion with his hand as a sign of ‘I need a moment to myself’ at which the woman just shakes her head and resumes her way around the counter. 

“Hunk is coming over for lunch”, she informs as she busies herself with checking the fridge. “You want to eat with us? Or do you have other plans?”

The brunet lifts his head, but stays in his slumped over position. “Sure that I won’t interfere with your date?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively which earns him a smack with a towel into his side. “Ow”, he whines and dodges the second attempt with jumping back. 

“Shoo, go do your work”, she orders, but Lance still catches the dark flush on her cheeks, before he hurries into the safety of his kitchen. 

His boisterous laugh can still be heard, after Shay has drawn the curtains shut. 

*

“Here you go, from your boyfriend”, Hunk says as he reenters the shop after eating lunch with Shay. With a grin he offers a small bag filled with chocolates in the shape of hearts. 

Keith purses his lips as he accepts the bag, mustering the goodies from the outside. “Thanks. You want any?” He’s already pulling the string apart and looks over to his coworker, who shakes his head.

“Nah, they’re just for you. I already got my fill.” And with that Hunk disappears to the back to change back into his work gear, leaving the raven alone again, who has pulled one piece out and currently enjoys the taste of different flavors melting in his mouth. 

Yep, Lance definitely knows how to make a man happy with chocolate. Smiling to himself, he reaches for his phone and types a message for Lance. ‘Thanks for the chocolate. It’s delicious.’

A Minute later he gets a reply: ‘Glad you like it ٩(♡ε♡ )۶’

The raven snorts at the emoticon, by now he’s gotten used to Lance’s nearly excessive usage of emoticons. He himself prefers to stay clean of them. ‘Can I come over after the hunt?’

‘Sure, I’ll leave the back door open ( *¯ ³¯*)♡’

Keith rolls his eyes at Lance’s confidence that no one except Keith would be able to invade his home if he leaves the door unlocked. And he knows that it’s a futile attempt to get his point over. Rubbing over the kinks in his shoulder, he types a reply, ‘How about breakfast tomorrow morning? I’m coming in late for work.’

‘Absolutely a YES. You in for croissants? Sweet and hearty. With cheese and bacon. Oh and eggs (*´ڡ`●)’

His stomach growls in approval. ‘Sounds tasty. I’m in. See you later.’

‘I’ll be waiting ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿♡’

At that Keith bites his lip, warmth pooling in the pit of his stomach. Suddenly he feels too hot in here. “I’ll take a walk”, he announces. 

“Okay”, he hears Hunk shout back from the changing rooms. 

When his nose is hit by fresh air, warm and hearty with the smell of summer, he relaxes again. He takes a turn towards the adjoining woods and walks a few minutes until he settles down under a tree. Unlocking his phone, he looks at a picture of Lance and him, taken by Florona at the lake a few days ago. A smile tugs at his lips as he sees the easy smile on his boyfriend‘s lips. 

Boyfriend. And hopefully mate. A few months ago he’d have never thought that he’d find his mate in a human man, but after spending so much time with Lance he can’t imagine a life without him anymore. 

The bag rustles as he pulls out another piece of chocolate and huffs at the perfectly shaped heart. 

Guess he should make Lance breakfast in bed tomorrow.

 

The End 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Thank you all for your wonderful comments. This chapter was a wild ride, so much smut–which I didn’t plan on originally. My first idea was that they have sex once at the end of the story, but I got in the mood. And after watching season 5 I guess I was really thirsty for Klance interaction. 
> 
> That’s it for now. I have a few more ideas for a sequel, but first I need to focus on my other stories.  
> Until then ﾟ.+:｡(≧∇≦)ﾉﾟ.+:｡

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr ([kyokouchiha](http://kyokouchiha.tumblr.com))


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